Wings of the Fallen Angel: Ascension
by Dingo T. Wilds
Summary: War never changes. It is inevitable to fall into war, no matter the path taken to avoid it. A change in time, a slip into the past, it will change very little. Even with the Kami and the Bijuu preparing for this war, it will matter little. The end goal is still the same, the death of those who defy it. The path may be different, but the arrival at the Nexus is set. War is at hand.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01: Resetting the Board, a Bijuu's Plan

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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War surrounded him, everywhere he looked. Shinobi of the Alliance fell left and right, fighting men made of the Mokuton and summoned souls, forcefully bound to a mortal vessel. Yet he passed each unheeded despite his size. Each battle he passed grew more significant as he watched in passing. He saw an elderly samurai struck down the bound soul of a powerful leader. He watched as three young shinobi worked their way through their grief to send their mentor's soul back to his eternal rest, and the defeat of the two false vessels of Gold and Silver that tried to draw upon himself.

It was because of his own presence at these events, whether darting past in his bound vessel, assisting through his vessel's duplicates, or observing through the eyes of the Gold and Silver vessels that he could see everything that was going on, as was his power. For he was Kurama, The Kyuubi no Kitsune, and the most powerful of the Bijuu. Kurama never made this claim lightly. Before he had regressed into a mindless beast, years before when he was first sealed, he was able to perform great acts of destruction. Smash mountains, create tsunamis, incinerate forests, and level human settlements with just a swipe of a single tail! He could do it all, and much more, but then that blasted Madara had ensnared him. He had been summoned to the field of battle, under an illusion strong enough to control him. He had been enslaved by a human.

When Madara had been defeated, Kurama had tried to press the attack, but the blasted Senju had suppressed his power. Then Mito Uzumaki had taken him into her body, turning herself into Kurama's first prison. She had suppressed him with her strange chakra, one that returned something that had left him only decades after his father, The Sage of Six Paths, had died. His intelligence, his cunning and his hatred. Many years he was kept in that prison, but at least he had space he could move around in.

Then Kushina had come along. He had actually preferred Mito ignoring him over his imprisonment inside of Kushina. His prison within her consisted of him being chained to a sphere with stakes driven through his paws and tails, and one large stake in his stomach, every stake interconnect with the others by chains. It was torture, one he repaid with growling death threats and Kushina's worst fears into the back of her mind, loud enough for her to hear. She returned this with visits where she taunted him and restricted his movements even further. All in all, they made each other their own worst enemies.

Then he had been yanked out of the seal and placed under another illusion strong enough to control him. An Uchiha had snared him once again. A battle was fought before he felt the control over him break, and he turned his hatred of humans onto Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the home of his captors and prisons. Kurama attacked them in vengeance for his imprisonment. The denizens of the village fought back, holding him off as the blond monkey his second prison had mated with finished off the masked Uchiha. Soon the monkey had arrived and he realized that he was going to be sealed away once more. He struggled as his Yin Chakra was ripped away when he saw the bundle, his next prison. He struck out in blind panic and rage, only for both his former prison and the blond monkey to stop his claw short of his intended target. The world slowly went black after that.

Kurama had woken up when he felt the ripples in the time stream, and he delved into this memory he now walked, sent to him by his future self. He wondered why he sensed an attachment to the boy he was now contained in. Then he saw it. Son Goku, giving him his name, as well as Kurama's own. Matatabi, Isobu, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, and Gyuki all revealed the one piece of information they had held so close to their hearts, the name given to them by their father, as only Shukaku's name was known because only insanity held its sway over him. The one thing that could truly control them. And he had laughed it off, saying he never wanted to control him, but it was Kurama's own actions that had forced him to do so. And then he unlocked the cage completely, proving his word, and he had gained their trust.

But it was all for not. Kurama had been ripped from his host, leaving the boy dying even as the pink haired healer and the resurrected blond monkey tried to save him. It had been at the moment of removal that Kurama had executed his last defensive measure, attempting to save himself and the boy.

As the memories of the possible future faded away, three figures appeared in front of his cell, two ready to contain him, while the third stayed in the shadows, knowing what he had seen.

"Kyuubi! What have you done!" the copy of the blond monkey yelled as he watched in horror as the bars and seal shifted. Kurama slipped back into his Kyuubi mask, neither of these humans deserved to know his true name or face. Only Naruto would when he once again gained the right to do so. He pulled Naruto's sleeping consciousness into the seal, watching as the boy was pulled into the shadows by the third figure.

**"Minato,"** Kyuubi said, looking at the blond, then turned slightly to the redhead **"Kushina. Do you know what type of life you condemned your only child to as you lay dying from my claws? Had you only left him, you would have survived. Had you taken me with you into death, one of you could have raised him."**

Naruto was shaking as he slowly realized that the Kyuubi was taunting who he had determined to be the Fourth Hokage and the man's wife or girlfriend. He was slowly beginning to understand that the Fourth hadn't killed the Kyuubi, but had put him in a prison of some sort. Maybe one in the afterlife? Was he dead as well? Kyuubi flashed a malicious grin as he kept the two splintered souls attention on him.

**"No, you had to seal me away into another prison, the flesh and blood of your own son binds me now, along with the Shinigami's power. What was his name again? Well, Kushina Uzumaki, tell me the name of the boy you locked me away in! The son you condemned to the scorn and hatred of the village he protects! The young boy that makes an idiot of himself to get some attention, no matter how negative! They boy they go out of their way to ignore or belittle!"** Kyuubi chuckled darkly as Kushina shakily whispered something under her breath. Both of the adults were horrified at what the Bijuu was insinuating about what had happened to their son, **"What was that, my dear little Habanero? I couldn't quite hear you. Did you say, perhaps, Naruto?"**

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Naruto had been watching as the Fourth Hokage and his wife grew more horrified at each mention of past abuse. The older version of him stood there whispering why the Kyuubi was doing this, that everything was important. He then saw the red-haired woman whisper something and then the Kyuubi had called out his name, looking straight at him.

Slowly both the man and the woman turned around, with looks of fear and desperation on their faces. Naruto slowly processed everything. He was a hands on learner, more street smart than book smart. He might not be able to do some of the advanced math problems others in his class could do, but even he could put all the clues together when they stood in front of him. When he did put them together, he knew that these two people where his parents. The Kyuubi laughed proclaiming the blond man as the one who had sealed him into Naruto, and said he should have listened to Kushina and taken him to the afterlife instead of splitting him in half.

Naruto's feet started moving forward, his older version releasing their hold him go as he ran to his father. Minato knelt down ready to grab the boy, when Naruto lashed out with a kick to the older blonde's cheek that sent him rolling.

"You bastard! You're the one to blame for why they hate me? Why they ignore me and act as if I don't exist? The insults that get hurled at me every day? All because you didn't take him down with you when you died?" Naruto yelled, tears running down his cheeks as Minato sat up, stunned.

"I definitely deserved that if that is how you were treated." Minato said. Suddenly he was tackled by Naruto, who was soon joined by a sobbing Kushina as they forgave each other and truly bonded for the first time.

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"Just like what happened with the boss back when we met them, just we met them both separately." The older Naruto said as he leaned against the gate of the seal. Until Naruto could beat his inner darkness and take Kurama's chakra again, the splintered version of his jinchuuriki's future self had modified the seal just enough to suit their plan.

**"So you're a chakra imprint just like them."** Kurama gesture to the bonding family, though he was looking at the copy.

"Yeah, I'm gone as soon as I reassure Mom and Dad."

**"Hopefully he will be like you, and earn the right to my true name."**

"Of course he will, he's me." the chakra imprint said, "Just younger and slightly stupider."

"Am not!" the younger Naruto yelled across the room, pulling himself away from Minato and Kushina to charge the older copy. The imprint grinned as he began tossing the child around like Jiraiya used to do with him.

"Face it kid. We are pretty stupid when we're not pulling a prank or in a fight. Hell, I have to count the tentacles to be sure of the difference between an octopus and a squid." Naruto collapsed in a heap as the copy smiled. He wasn't even winded, "You just need a teacher that doesn't care about your Jinchuuriki status. Like the furball behind me."

"No!" Minato cried as he grabbed Naruto away from the 'Kyuubi made' copy, "All the demon will do is corrupt my son!"

The copy chuckled, "It's the other way around actually. We were at war, the enemy was winning, people were dying, and I was captured. That damn Uchiha was about to extract the furball from the seal when Kyuubi told me his last resort for keeping us alive. He decided that my chakra imprint would accompany his memories as warning to his past self. The reason he did that is simple. He never succeeded in corrupting me. I corrupted him, with sunshine and lollipops."

The Kyuubi reached through the now expanded bars and smacked the copy with a tail, **"Shut-up you idiotic monkey spawn."**

"Ow!" The copy grunted while rubbing the back of his head, "Besides, it's not up to you, as all three of us are going to fade away soon after we're done here. Start thinking of what you need to tell him by the way, you have about six hours at most to be with him."

Kyuubi laid down with his head on his front paws, facing Naruto, **"So brat, your future self here managed to do what I thought was impossible, he learned my longest kept secret, only my brethren and our father knew that."**

"Father? What are you talking about demon! You are just a mass of chakra and hatred that has no sentience unless you're sealed away!" Minato roared, trying to drown out the Kyuubi.

**"My Father is only called such as he is the one that created us, the Bijuu! When he split the Juubi's chakras into nine beings, The Sage of Six Paths, the creator of the ninja way also created us! I have always been sentient, and it is because of our mistrust in humans that abuse our power that we act as we do!"** Kyuubi roared back, pushing himself halfway to a standing position, **"Sealing us away, keeping us as pets, attacking us on sight! Most of us now have containers worthy of our power! The idiotic Ichibi doesn't care and the Sanbi is killing mist monkeys over his container's demise! Do not speak to me of the hatred of demons!"**

The Kyuubi snorted before laying back down at the younger Naruto, **"I want you to do so again. Learn my best kept secret. You must obtain total control of my power, but I will not go easy on you. I am willing to gift you with abilities suited to your future abilities as well as grant a power boost to others. If they prove they are worthy of my power."**

"Don't take it sweetie, it's trying to get free..." Kushina whispered into her son's ear,

**"Freedom? I will acquire that in due time, after all, this one and my future self charged into battle side by side, as much as him using my power or riding on my head could allow. That is my freedom, to feel the deaths of my enemies once more. No, what I want is much simpler, I want to be feared as I once was. Once your precious Naruto begins his shinobi career, people will start to realize who and what he is, and I will not have a weak vessel. The other condition for this power, restore the Yin Chakra that your male genetic donor stole from me, the more power I regain is more power available to you. It will not be easy, but I will ensure you that the Shinigami will not take your soul for summoning him. This I swear,"** Kyuubi said while finishing the thought in the back of his mind, **'No, he will never take you because you interest him, one of the few humans to be able to tamper with and reform his power for their own uses. Like the changes you made in the seal before the war, and the ones your duplicate made to allow this accord to be carried out.'**

**"Be gone with you, I've said my piece. You have six hours to talk with them, and seven before your exams tomorrow."** Kyuubi said, turning away from the bars, **"And one week to think about my offer."**

As the Kyuubi's eyes closed, the other four occupants of the room disappeared in a flash of light.

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The young boy and chakra imprints suddenly appeared on a plain of white, nothing else around them.

"I'm fading now, but my job is almost done. Before I was sent back, I learned and perfected the art of Senjutsu in order to counter the corrosive effects of the Kyuubi's chakra. I learned from the Toads, but if you decide to take his offer, you should get the Owl Summoning Contract. They have Senjutsu capabilities and they will be a better fit for the power he plans on giving you. You will have to find our ancestor's home land, as one of the minor allied clans had the contract. Be careful when seeking it out mini-me, Uzushiogakure is a dangerous place, even if it is in ruins." The chakra imprint said, ruffling Naruto's hair.

"You make it sound as if you would have taken that horrid deal if you were given the offer," Minato said, not liking the way the older version of his son thought.

"Well considering that one of you students is currently hell bent on world domination, as well as the reason this is happening in the first place, you can bet your ass I would take the deal. But why would you care bastard? You left me your mess to clean up." the copy said, watching as Minato paled as the man realized what he was saying. Kushina, on the other hand, didn't like the imprint's choice of words.

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE YOUNG MAN! 'TTEBANE!" Kushina roared as her hair rose into several tail-like bunches as she closed in to punch the imprint in the face, only for him to fade out of existence the moment before it could connect.

"If you take the deal, make sure it is to protect those you care for, because our nindo was to never go back on our word and to protect those we care for! DATTABAYO!"

Minato and Kushina looked horrified as their young son shouted the final word back at his former future self. Turning to face his wife, Minato pointed an accusatory finger at her and shouted in a horrified tone, "Your verbal tick corrupted my son! Everyone will think he's a spaz!"

Kushina roared at the indignity that her husband accused her of and Naruto turned around to see his mother beating his father in to the ground, "What happened?"

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Naruto sat quietly on top of the Academy roof. He had failed again. He tried to get Kyuubi to help him, but the stupid fox had said that until the week was up, he would not talk to Naruto unless it was to accept the deal. The only way Naruto could deny it was to wait the week out.

He had disappointed Iruka, he saw it in the chuunin teacher's eyes. He had also wondered if he had disappointed his parents as well. Then Mizuki had told him of the extra test for those that could still possibly pass if they had too much or too little chakra for the techniques. He still had a few minutes before he needed to leave, so he leaned back to watch the stars come out. He didn't even notice three people his age watching him. They had all noticed the change in his behavior today, despite his best attempts at acting like he always did. They saw him turn his head to the Hokage Monument, gazing at the Fourth's face.

"Dad, you chose me to contain your greatest failure. You and Mom died because you weren't strong enough to save yourselves, but it was in your power to save me. But if I don't pass this test, would you still be proud of me?" the blond troublemaker asked himself, before getting up to leave. He took off faster than they could follow, so they began separate searches.

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'So he is like my clan, shunned because he contains something, but what?' A young boy with a high collared coat and sunglasses stretched his finger out for a beetle to land on it. He had found Naruto.

Thinking back to why he had followed the blond, he remembered the sudden spike of malevolent chakra directed at him and several others in the class coming from the whiskered blond. Only two others had felt it and decided to act on it, but Naruto himself didn't seem aware of the event. It must have been caused by whatever he contained. Whatever the boy's father had sealed into him.

Shino stood up and began moving towards Naruto's location. If he was similar to the Aburame Clan in any way, he wanted to know more, and perhaps find a comrade.

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'Troublesome,' was the lone thought of a lazy boy as he waited, hidden, beside an abandoned shack in the woods. He had heard Mizuki-sensei tell Naruto to come here after completing a make-up test for failing earlier. Only, there was no such test. He had heard what Naruto said, and put the connections together. The Fourth Hokage was his father, and his greatest failure was that he couldn't kill the Kyuubi.

Shikamaru remembered what his father had said about Naruto. To make friends with the blond troublemaker and not listen to what anyone else said. But the lazy Nara and the loud Uzumaki were just too different. Between their very different interests and personalities they became friendly acquaintances that hung out every once in a while. It was time to change that.

'Hmm, Shino and Sasuke are here as well, and there's Naruto.'

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'Naruto, just how strong are you really? To live alone since the day you were born. Never know the love of a mother or father. How would your type of strength fair against mine, the one who watched helplessly as his family was taken away from him. Who is stronger? A Protector, or an Avenger?' Sasuke wondered as he looked over a photo in his hands, while watching Naruto from the corner of his eye.

He had found the picture in his mother's sitting room, the picture was of two women, his mother and a woman that had the name Kushina Uzumaki written on the back. Several of Naruto's facial features matched this woman, with slight differences from his father. His hair and eye color were probably from his father as well. Sliding the picture into his pouch, he saw Iruka-sensei appear in the clearing where Naruto had been practicing that complicated clone jutsu.

'It's time to find out the truth.'

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"Hey Iruka-sensei, I found you!" Naruto said, huffing as he pointed at the teacher who was slowly losing his temper.

This was when Kyuubi took a presented opportunity. With those three others around, he could limit the boy's supply of chakra, leaving him with just enough so a few shadow clones and to tire him out. As Mizuki appeared and started running his mouth, Kyuubi waited until he got to the good part. As the two teachers squared off, he knew this was the first turning point in the time line. Now to see how the white haired monkey reacted to Naruto knowing about his 'tenant'.

"Do you know why everyone hates you, Naruto?"

"Mizuki, don't do it! It is forbidden to speak about!" Iruka yelled.

"Shut up!" Mizuki yelled, throwing another kunai, missing Iruka's head with little room to spare, "Did you know the Fourth Hokage didn't kill the Kyuubi, he sealed it away instead. YOU ARE THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!"

Naruto cocked his head as Mizuki laughed, "Are you done yet?"

Mizuki glared at the boy, shouldn't he be in denial over this?

"The stupid fox refuses to help me unless he gets something from it. He doesn't give me any powers. I mean think about it. I'm an Uzumaki, so that means I have large chakra reserves and I heal fast, Old Man Hokage said so." Naruto snorted, "Besides, not even the Fourth could kill a Bijuu, no human can. They can't even kill each other."

Mizuki roared in rage as he threw his giant shuriken at the irritating boy, only for his target to move. Naruto suddenly lurched to the side along with Iruka who had pried himself loose to jump in front of Naruto. A buzzing noise had filled the air and a fireball roared out of the forest, colliding with the shuriken.

Looking down, Mizuki realized that an Aburame was in the area as a cloud of beetles surged towards him. As he leapt away, a fist connected with his chin as Naruto appeared in front of him.

"So demon, it seems as if you've brainwashed the clan heirs into helping you." Mizuki sneered as he saw the three boys land next to the jinchuuriki as they leapt from cover.

Rolling to his feet, while thinking, 'Five on one, I need the formula. Good thing I made a batch beforehand.' Mizuki pulled a glass vial from his leg holster, popping the rubber stopper out of it before brandishing it, "Look well, demon. This will grant me the power to kill you!"

Mizuki swiftly gulped the contents as the boys charged forward trying to stop them. He dropped the vial as Sasuke lashed out with a kick to his head, and caught Naruto's fist before it could reach his ribs.

"To late boys," Mizuki growled. Mizuki lurched forward as foul chakra began rolling off of his form. His upper body muscles bulged, tripling in size, destroying the chuunin vest and shirt he was wearing. As his muscles compacted into a denser state, Mizuki cracked his neck, showing off the new black stripes on his face. Fangs and slit eyes formed next, stopping all four children in their tracks. The man screamed predator.

"Here I come." Mizuki roared before blurring out of sight. Naruto gasped as the silver haired man reappeared in front of him, feeling the heavy fist as it collided with his jaw. Sasuke was the next target with a vicious kick to the midsection that left him doubled over as Mizuki towered over his hunched form. A loud buzzing sound alerted Mizuki to Shino's attempt to interfere, and the man blurred out of sight once more.

Iruka watched helplessly, having several kunai still in his body, as Mizuki grabbed Shino by his jacket and threw him at Shikamaru who was trying to capture his shadow. Both boys collapsed in a heap as Naruto and Sasuke stood up once more, angry and unfocused.

"Big mistake bastard." Naruto said as he held his hands in a cross shape, "You'll fall to my new jutsu! Kage Bunshin!"

With a plume of smoke, six more Narutos appeared on the battlefield. All seven looked worn out and were panting, and Sasuke noticed.

'That technique... it must be an extremely advanced jutsu to leave Naruto of all people tired after practicing it.' The raven haired avenger thought as he ran through a short sequence of hand seals himself, "Katon: Great Fireball!"

Mizuki watched as the Rookie of the Year utilized a chuunin level technique and tried to move, only to find himself, frozen in spot and realized Shikamaru had tagged him with the Nara clan's signature technique.

"Hrrrraaaaahhhh!" Mizuki roared as he forced his body into the next stage of the transformation to break the boy's hold.

"I can't hold him for much longer!" Shikamaru yelled as Mizuki slowly started to overpower his shadow's grasp. Sasuke was pumping more power into the already large fireball to try and take the man down in one hit, and Shino couldn't help without compromising his hive to the flames. Four of Naruto's clones latched onto Mizuki's limbs and torso doing their best to hold the limbs in place.

Mizuki let out one more roar as Sasuke let the fireball fly forward. As the technique exploded against the man, Shikamaru withdrew his shadow and the clones dispelled. As the flames engulfed the surrounding area, Mizuki smirked. He stepped out of the flames, once more changed. Thick orange fur covered his body, his feet and hands changed to a half paw shape with long claws tipping each digit. Feline ears twitched as he let out a true animalistic growl.

"Time to put you little punks down." Mizuki growled. The tiger-man's following attack was devastating. Shino was taken down first, Mizuki's claws biting deeply into his back.

"Argh!" The sound was the loudest thing anyone had heard the Aburame boy utter, scaring each of them more. As he tossed the stoic boy away, he advanced on Shikamaru, who threw down a smoke pellet to cover his escape.

"That won't work slacker!" Mizuki snarled as he appeared behind Shikamaru, grabbing him by both of his wrists, "Let's keep those hands tied up."

Mizuki wrapped an enlarged hand around both of the young Nara's hands to completely immobilize them, and hoisted him into the air. With a feral smirk, Mizuki drew back his other fist and began beating Shikamaru around the head and shoulders. Naruto and Sasuke were stunned at the ferocity of their teacher's attack as he tossed the limp Shikamaru into the side of the shed next to Iruka.

"Naruto, send those clones to distract him, I have an idea." Sasuke said as he leaped back, gaining some range on their traitorous teacher. Mizuki wasn't fooled, he tore through the clones and knocked Naruto aside when he tried to step in the way. Naruto collided headfirst with a tree, shattering a lens in his goggles. As he lay the bleeding from a gash in his side from where Mizuki's claws had swiped him, he saw Sasuke trying helplessly to fend of the monstrous man, only to have his right leg broken in two places.

Mizuki grinned as he grabbed the downed Uchiha, the perfect gift to complement the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing for his Lord, Orochimaru of the Sannin.

'But,' He thought as he grabbed Sasuke's left arm, 'It would be best to snap a few more bones to make sure he can't attack me.'

Sasuke's scream rang out across the woods as Mizuki broke all of the fingers on his left hand. Naruto slowly pushed himself off the ground. They had come to his aid when he had needed it. They had learned about the Kyuubi judging by the nods they had given him when they appeared, and they hadn't hated him for it. Now, they were injured badly because of this monster in front of him, a man he could safely say he hated with his entire being.

'I need power.' Naruto slowly thought as he began to steady, wounds healing, "I need power to protect them. I need power to beat him. I NEED POWER TO KILL HIM!"

Mizuki turned around at the roar Naruto let out, dropping Sasuke in a broken heap, 'What? Guess I didn't put him down hard enough. Time to change that.'

'Fox give me your power,' Naruto thought, hatred for the tiger-man welling up from deep within him.

**"Is this your answer? The power to **_**protect**_** them? The power to **_**kill**_** those who harm them?"** Kyuubi growled, knowing that everything had followed his plan, and was feeling especially pleased with himself.

"Do it." Naruto whispered. Red chakra began circling his body, healing his wounds. His eyes turned blood red, pupils slitted like the Kyuubi's. His whisker marks darkened and thickened, his hair spiked out in a wilder degree. The chakra fully encircled his body as a construct appeared above the young boy, a Kitsune's head. It roared in tangent with Naruto, sending the red chakra hurtling across the clearing, bathing everyone in its power. Each of the boy's eyes went wide with pain before passing out because of the potency of the chakra entering their bodies, but Iruka was another matter entirely.

When the wave of chakra washed over Iruka, it was the worst thing for him to experience. He saw the black ball of chakra that killed his parents descending from the sky all over again. The suffocating malice and hatred that the tainted chakra carried awakened a thirst deep inside of him, an instinctual thirst that he had thought to have quenched the day his genin squad had been butchered along with his sensei. A thirst for blood.

'No, I can't control it!' Iruka thought in despair as his eyes burned, a sign they were filling with the red haze, 'Got to focus it, I can't hurt my students!'

Iruka panted hard as he ripped the last kunai out of his shoulder with more force than necessary. He was regressing fast, but he needed to focus it, aim it, or he would kill everyone that he came across. A crazed grin spread across his face as his eyes glowed blood red, the retina, pupil, and iris all a uniform color. But he had his target.

Mizuki was having a difficult time holding off Naruto, as the Bijuu empowered child fought like a wild animal, but so did he. He was completely taken off guard when someone jumped on his back, wrapping their legs around his torso, and began repeatedly stabbing his left shoulder with a kunai.

Mizuki roared like the wounded animal he was, throwing the man off. The kunai remained buried deep within his shoulder, rendering his arm useless. Turning, he saw something he had only seen once before, nine years ago when his team was sent as back-up on a mission that had gone south. Those eyes haunted him and solidified his hatred for Iruka. Mizuki didn't understand why someone would throw that kind of power away. He snarled as he turned to face them, knowing that he faced the full wrath of the Umino clan's madness.

The two charged him as he fell back. Their fury was palpable, and was enough to stagger most people. Mizuki knew he was in trouble. But he saw an opening that would help him escape. He grabbed Naruto with his one good hand, ignoring the burns he received from the Kyuubi's chakra, and bit down on Naruto's neck. He felt the flesh and muscle give away easily as he ripped a large chunk of the boy's skin and muscle away from where the shoulder meets the neck. The boy cried in agony as he fell, the wound rapidly closing with the amount of the Kyuubi's chakra that flowed through him. As the blond fell and he dodged Iruka, Mizuki made a break for it.

He barely made it more than a few strides before the power Orochimaru gave him begin to fail. As his body started to revert, Mizuki's muscles started to shrivel up. As he fell, he saw Iruka standing over him, crazed smile still splayed across his face. The chuunin slowly raised his foot above Mizuki's head before he said the last thing Mizuki would ever hear.

"Good riddance," Iruka hissed as he slammed his foot down on Mizuki's head, splattering gray-matter across the forest floor. As the boiling rage slowly ebbed away, Iruka looked at the ANBU squad that had just appeared as he executed the traitor, "Are you guys ever on time?"

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Author's Note: All right, several things about the rewrite.

1) I have split all current chapters in half, the actual story parts should be between 4000-5000 words on average. I did this to see if, now that my muse is coming back to me, I can post shorter chapters faster.

2) When I use a Japanese word that isn't commonly known in the Naruto fan base, I will have the meaning directly after it in parentheses. I hate writers that make you look up half of the words in their fic just to understand it. As for honorifics, mostly sensei is going to be the only one used, others very sparingly.

All right now that is out of the way, I'll start reworking the new Chapter 2.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 02: Of Alliances and Friendship, Recruiting the Pieces

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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"Hey look, he's waking up." a voice said as Naruto slowly opened his eyes. Two blurs hovered over him, one white and red, the other green and blue.

"It looks like he's alright Iruka." a second voice said, this one elderly sounding, "I just need to talk with him for a while. The other three have given me their reports, and now it's time for Naruto to do the same. Please leave us, this is sensitive information after all."

Naruto blinked the blurriness away as he recognized the Third Hokage's voice. As the curtain closed behind Iruka as he left, the elderly Sarutobi placed a sealing tag on the curtain, causing the curtain and the walls to glow for a brief moment.

"There we are, absolutely no one can eavesdrop on us for the next thirty minutes unless they're a Fuinjutsu master, and our local one is currently on a long term mission." The elderly Hokage voiced cheerfully, before focusing on the young boy. "Naruto, how long have you known about the Kyuubi?" the old man asked, looking beyond even his years.

"The night before the genin exams. Last night I think?" Naruto asked looking up.

"Technically two nights ago. It's about four in the morning, several hours after your fight with Mizuki. Now tell me what happened between you and the fox."

Naruto looked down, wondering if he should tell the old man about his parents, 'No, he said he didn't know for so long, he had to be lying. Dad said he knew.'

**"He hid it to protect you."** The Kyuubi said offhandedly, focusing on how he was going to enact the next phase of his plan.

'I'm not really awake enough to handle two conversations at once Kyuubi.' Naruto snapped, still tired and confused over everything that had happened

The Kyuubi huffed. Here he was ready to activate the first part of his gift to Naruto, and the boy was getting snippy with him.

**'I think I'll place a couple of presets into it for that little bout of rudeness. I'm sure he'll **_**eventually**_** overcome them.'** Kurama thought as his lips rose into a gruesome facsimile of a toothy grin. The boy would learn to respect him, he would make sure of it. He already respected his jailor for the strength he had, but to be such a brat when he offered up a simple explanation, the boy would pay. Not with blood, since he couldn't harm the boy thanks to his deal, but Naruto's pride and humility would do just fine.

"He offered me a deal." Naruto stated, ignoring, the Hokage's sudden strangled gasp, taking some small delight in making the man choke on his pipe for hiding information this important about him from him, "He wants to be remembered, and feared. He can't do that with a weak container and gave me a week to decide. I could choose do so his way, which he swore would have less of a risk of me killing myself, or I could go the hard way, with him fighting every step of the way when I'm taught to control his chakra, most likely resulting in my death and him escaping from the Shinigami in a century or so."

"My boy, did you..." Hiruzen trailed off as Naruto's head sunk lower.

"I took his power, to protect them, to stop Mizuki, but in the end I failed, Iruka-sensei ended up having to do so," Naruto shivered remembering the look in Iruka's eyes, and how he had felt with the Kyuubi's power flowing through him, "His chakra did something to Iruka-sensei, it caused him to change like that."

"No, it's something that Iruka has kept hidden for a very long time. It's a powerful ability he didn't want, because it's a sickness that affects the Umino clan. He used it to kill Mizuki, who threatened his students, who threatened you. Just as you used the power of the Bijuu to protect your classmates." the Hokage said, mentally filing away that Naruto didn't need to know that the reemergence of the Kyuubi's chakra had triggered Iruka's buried memories to induce the psychotic episode. Not from him, and not right now.

The two sat in companionable silence as the seal slowly faded away, their time was up. As the elderly Hokage opened the curtain, Naruto saw he was in a large hospital room and three other beds with Shikamaru, Shino and Sasuke occupying them. Iruka was helping Shino lay back down as a nurse walked away, a clean set of bandages wrapped around his torso. Sasuke had his leg and arm elevated as his entire hand was in a temporary cast, and his leg braced, most likely healed already, just allowing the muscles to rest and heal. Shikamaru had a large strip of gauze wrapped around his head, and his shoulders were bandaged as well.

Naruto slowly reached up and felt where Mizuki had taken a bite out of him, surprised to find no wound. In fact, he felt perfectly fine except for the weariness he felt.

"You'll be the first out of here, Naruto. With the boost to your healing factor you received while using your secondary chakra pool, you'll only be here for a couple of days due to chakra exhaustion, five at the most." Hiruzen said, before turning to Iruka, "Let's go Iruka, you still need to be looked over and the boys need to rest."

"Of course Lord Hokage," Iruka said as he started to follow, before stopping, "Sorry, just one thing first."

Iruka walked up to Naruto, who was looking forlornly at his broken goggles on the bed-stand next to him, "Hey Naruto, close your eyes for a minute."

Naruto sat up, confused, but complied with the chuunin's request. He felt something wrap around his head, before being tied at the back, "Alright, open them."

Naruto looked at Iruka, noticing, his headband was missing. Reaching up to his forehead, he felt cool metal with a slight impression in it. Slowly, he traced it with his thumb, realizing it was the Leaf of Konoha.

"Congratulations, Naruto, you've passed the Genin Exams. The Kage Bunshin Jutsu is an extremely advanced technique, and to be able to make six at your age is incredible, and I'm sure you could have made more if you hadn't been so tired." Iruka said with a wide, warm smile on his face. The Third held a soft kind smile while Sasuke and Shikamaru smirked. Shino nodded his head and Naruto grinned. He had passed!

When both Iruka and the Hokage had left, shutting the lights off, Sasuke swung himself off his bed, using a crutch to hobble over to him. Shikamaru had helped Shino up and both boys made their way over to him as well.

"Hey, Naruto," Shikamaru said, keeping his voice low, "Want to talk about it?"

The three knew that they all had something in common with the blond in front of them. Shino was generally ignored because of his clan's techniques, and generally only had Sasuke's companionship in class because his insects scared Sasuke's fangirls away and Sasuke respected the boy for his ability to push him in the Academy, forcing him to stay one step ahead to keep the Rookie of the Year title. Sasuke was all alone. While he was treated well by the villagers, he could compare most to how Naruto was treated. Though Naruto was hated and he was praised, the villagers never bothered to get to know the children under the assumptions they made. Both were truly lonely and wanted to be acknowledged, but not in the way they already were. Shikamaru simply knew he was looked down on for his laziness. Choji, Kiba and himself where the bad kids if Naruto had skipped class that day. Or they would join him in his pranks and hooky days every once in a while themselves.

"What is there to talk about? You all know. Once people start treating you poorly because you're around me, your opinions of me will change and you'll hate me like everyone else. You're better off that way if you want to keep any standing in the village."

Sasuke shook his head, "Idiot, I've always known you were powerful. I thought you never applied yourself and failed on purpose, so I ignored you. But you were sabotaged before Iruka took over the class, weren't you?"

Naruto looked away but Shikamaru snapped his fingers to get his attention again, "Look, out of everyone who graduated, only the civilian children and maybe the girls will ignore you, you troublesome blond. While Kiba, Choji and I haven't hung out with you in a while, but that doesn't mean we're not friends. It's just we really don't know each other that well, and Kiba trains a lot while you do your pranking thing. We never had a lot in common with each other. We started hanging out with you because we knew it would piss everyone off, but we quickly came to see you as a comrade and a friend. I've always known about you and your family, it isn't hard to see the resemblance. I know you know too, so don't try to hide it."

"To put it simply, we overheard you when you were staring at your father's face on the mountain on the Academy roof. We want to help you Naruto. My father always spoke highly of you, despite not telling me why, and always compared you to your mother." Shino said, trying to convince the blond they were truly trying to help him

"Naruto," Sasuke said, the tone of his voice brokered no argument, "Out of everyone in the class, it is you I've always wanted to fight the most. The spars they made us do in the Academy, you never cared enough to put a true effort into, like you expected to fail no matter what. When you get out of here, train hard. You are the only one worthy of test my strength against, as you and I are the same. We are rivals, as were our mothers."

At this, Sasuke removed the slightly damaged photo from his pouch from where it laid on the bedside table. A corner had been ripped in the fight, cutting off part of the bottom, but Naruto immediately recognized the face of his mother. While Naruto traced his mother's face, Sasuke held his good hand outstretched, motioning for Shikamaru and Shino to do the same. The boys placed their hands on top of Sasuke's, similar to what they did for game huddles as children.

"Naruto, we swear that we won't treat you any differently than we do now. We want to be your friends, your comrades. Your secrets are our secrets, and ours can be yours as well. We will not reveal them without you letting us." Shino said, seeming more sincere than Naruto could ever remember. Maybe it was because he could see his entire face, sans the eyes, with his large coat and shirt missing. It made him... more human in Naruto's mind.

"Alright, that goes for me too!" Naruto said, a true smile showing. He placed his hand on top of the stack as the others smiled or smirked. Suddenly though, their hands were surrounded by the Kyuubi's chakra. They couldn't pull them back, and the skin on their palms felt like it was branded.

**"Take this little gift as a reminder of what you have sworn to one another. And remember, never forget your oath!"** Kyuubi roared, with his chakra connecting the four boys they were all able to hear what the Bijuu roared. As the chakra faded, an ANBU with a scarecrow mask and a hooded white cloak burst into the room, ready to subdue any attackers, or Naruto if he had lost control.

"What's going on in here?" the ANBU demanded. The boys were scared, only captains wore the white cloaks, and the three commanders had specialized masks instead of an animal mask. Slowly they showed their palms to the man to inspect as he snorted. On each of the boy's palms was the kanji for 'Oath' burned into the flesh.

"Idiot children. You attracted the Kyuubi's attention to yourselves. For good or ill, he has taken an interest in all of you. With that beast, he could have easily killed all four of you with that!"

The ANBU scared them with the death threat, but Naruto asked, "Four, Kakashi-san?"

"I'm not blind like the villagers brat. I have always trusted the Fourth's word and work. If he says you're a hero, then you're a damn hero. Get to bed, I have to report this."

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Hiruzen sighed as the rest of the unofficial 'Council' filed into the meeting room. The news his ANBU Commander had just delivered was not reassuring, but there was nothing he could do now. Standing to call the meeting to order, he nodded to Shikaku and Shibi, who had already been informed of what happened.

"Last night, one Naruto Uzumaki was deceived into stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing by his Chuunin Instructor, Mizuki Toji." Murmurs traveled through the room. Most here couldn't believe it when Naruto had taken the scroll, considering how he loved Konoha, despite what a majority of the civilians thought, "Mizuki attacked and injured Genin Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Chuunin Iruka Umino using an experimental drug to activate a forbidden jutsu given to him by Orochimaru. He was soon executed by Iruka Umino who, through the trauma of Naruto accidentally tapping into the Kyuubi's power to heal a near fatal wound, regressed into the psychotic state that has debilitated his clan for so long."

Many people, including his longtime rival Danzo, winced at the mention of the state. It could not be controlled. It could be suppressed, and it could be focused and aimed at specific targets, but if someone else took out the target, the one in the frenzy would continue to kill until his thirst for blood was sated. Iruka was the only one of the small Umino clan that was an active duty shinobi, and that's because he had it suppressed, until now.

"The other subject of discussion is with the injury of these four genin, we will need to postpone the Genin assignments. Are there any concerns that need to be raised about tonight's incident?"

Murmurs spread across the room, wondering of many things until Inoichi Yamanaka, father of Ino Yamanaka, spoke up.

"What about the seal, is it holding? Can the Kyuubi influence the boy?" the blond man asked.

Hiruzen sighed before tapping his pipe in the ash tray, "The seal, for a lack of a better word, has changed."

As pandemonium erupted, the elderly Hokage silenced it by banging his hand on the desk, "As I was saying, the seal has changed, but I believe that it is a reaction to the Kyuubi being awake. Before last night, it was content slumbering within the seal, but now that it's awake, the seal has changed in reaction to it. My best theory is it changed to assist in keeping the fox from actively trying to escape now that it is awake and taking interest in the world around its new container."

After quelling some of more spooked attendees, the Hokage stood, "I must end this meeting for today, I am needed at the Academy to let the new graduates know what has happened. When I have gathered more information about the incident, I will call another meeting for those who wish to attend."

Watching his Shinobi file out of the meeting room, Hiruzen sighed once more. He had no idea what had happened to the seal, only that it was still as strong as it has ever been. Hopefully Jiraiya would respond to the summons he had sent and returns soon.

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Naruto drifted in a haze of darkness, blacks and grays intermingle and flowed around him. He watched, mesmerized by the patterns and shapes they seamlessly formed, though he soon he realized he was not alone as he watched seven shadows appeared around him.

_"The time is upon you, child of destiny."_ The first spoke, before the one to the right continued

_"It is the duty of you and yours to bring War to the land."_

_**"Then bring about Peace."**_ When the third one spoke, Naruto thought they sounded familiar, like a distant memory.

_"Bring me the Blade of Man who strikes down their foes."_

_"Bring me the Guardian of Sand who defends his home."_

_"Bring me the Sibling of Flames who walks in darkness."_

_"Bring me the Warrior of Discipline who follows true ethic."_

_"Bring me the Deceiver of All who seeks the truth."_

_"Bring me the Curse of Melodies who hides at all times."_

_**"And you shall follow the path of your Ancestors to the Afterlife!"**_

The darkness began to swirl as the figure who spoke last faded into view. Purple skin and black horns filled his vision as black eyes and teeth closed around a tanto. The image faded away and he heard someone calling his name.

Naruto woke with a start, his fist connecting with whatever shook him. Hearing someone curse, Naruto blearily pushed something red from in front of his face to get a better look. Seeing several of his classmates, particularly Kiba who was holding his nose and cussing rather loudly, hovering over him, he yawned while scratching a weird lump on his chest.

"Hey, why is everyone here? Why are you looking at me like that?"

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Several minutes earlier

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"Man, I can't believe Shikamaru of all people threw himself onto a battlefield." Choji said as he crumpled up his latest bag of BBQ chips.

"Yeah, and Naruto, the poor guy, being forced to fail because of a mission to weed out a traitor. What if Mizuki hadn't been a traitor? That would have been really embarrassing." Kiba asked, "And let's face it, it's because the others showed up the mission went down the toilet."

"It's not Sasuke's fault Kiba!" Sakura shot back, adjusting her forehead protector to hold her hair, "He probably noticed something was up and followed to help, I mean, Naruto is the second strongest in class. Only Sasuke ever beats him in Taijutsu."

"Wrong Sakura, Naruto and Choji are physically stronger than Sasuke, and I'm tied with him. It's the Uchiha clan's Interceptor style that gives him the edge. To use mine and Choji's clan's Taijutsu properly, we need to use our Ninjutsu for our moves to be truly effective. So I resort to brawling and Naruto has lived in the slums his entire life. The fact is in a straight up brawl, Naruto wins every time. He's a stamina freak." Kiba shot back as Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Hey guys, wait up!" the three look over to see Ino and Hinata approaching, flowers in hand for each of the boys.

"Hey Ino," Choji said, opening a new bag of chips, "What do you think, can anyone beat Naruto in a straight fight, Academy Taijutsu or street brawling only?"

"Hell no, the one time we did fight, he creamed me!" Ino said, rubbing her shoulder. It wasn't as if he had hit her, but his grip was strong enough to bruise her shoulder as he held her for the count, "I don't think anyone could beat him without their clan Taijutsu."

They argued over the true strengths of Naruto, whom they were told held back his true strength for the mission. Earlier the Hokage himself had explained why their classmates and senseis were absent. The entire class had been shocked when Kiba stood up proclaiming he had sensed something off with Naruto the day of the tests. They had decided to visit the boys as Ino had dragged Hinata off to help he pick some flowers from her family's shop as gifts for them.

"The Lord Hokage said we could visit our classmates, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, and Naruto Uzumaki. What room are they in?" Ino asked the receptionist at the hospital's front desk.

"Room 603. An ANBU is standing outside the room, so don't pressure them for information. Whatever happened last night has most likely been classified." the receptionist said while looking over the room ledger. The Hospital staff tended to treat Naruto as fast as they could before sending him on his way, seeing as any prejudice against him was ill conceived at best. Especially since he knew where every doctor and the entire nursing staff lived after the last pranking spree he subjugated the village to three years ago. Those who hadn't gotten the idea when the Hokage started executing those who attempted to harm him, finally decided to back off after that particularly violent series of pranks he used to get revenge.

The group walked up to the room, nodding to the ANBU on duty. What had happened last night had put three clan heirs and one powerful genin in the hospital, all with grievous injuries.

"Hey guys! Heard you were on the ass end of an ass kicking so we decide to come see how you were doing!" Kiba called out as he threw the door open, causing the bird masked ANBU to chuckle.

"Damn it Kiba, why are you so loud this early in the morning?" Shikamaru groaned as he tried to roll over and go back to sleep.

"But it's two in the afternoon!" Sakura cried out, before turning to Sasuke, "Does it hurt?"

"Hn."

"Something Naruto did accelerated our healing," Shino said as he looked up from his book on Entomology, "I would have been paralyzed for life and Sasuke would have been in a body cast if it wasn't for the chakra infusion he gave us."

"What? He can do that?" Choji asked, looking at the fourth bed surprised, it seemed like Naruto was curled up in a ball under the covers, still asleep.

"The Uzumaki clan had an advanced healing factor and tons of chakra, which Naruto obviously inherited." Shikamaru said, before sighing, "Iruka-sensei watched him regrow muscle and flesh after Mizuki tore out a chunk the size your fist Choji. That would have killed anyone else."

"The idiot is only here because he somehow managed to exhaust his entire chakra supply healing us. He'll get out by the end of the week, the rest of us are stuck here for a while." Sasuke said, his eyes narrowing at the fourth bed, 'Something's not right.'

"Hey, Kiba. Check Naruto's bed, something's off." Sasuke asked, startling everyone, "Naruto sleeps like he fights, everywhere at once, not curled up in a ball."

Kiba and Choji winced remembering the last survival training they had, sharing a tent with Naruto had left both of them pinned by the blond. It took both of them and the genin in charge of them to pull him off.

"You're right, it smells like Naruto, but, the scent is... off somehow. Naruto," Kiba said as he approached the bed, "Hey Naruto, wake up man."

"Five more minutes... sensei..." the bundle under the covers mumbled.

"Definitely doesn't sound right," Kiba said as he yanked the cover back, only to gasp. On the bed laid a red-haired girl wearing an oversized hospital gown and boxers, curled up around the pillow.

"Who's that?" Hinata stuttered out, surprised that this girl was here instead of her crush. Kiba reached over and grabbed the girl's shoulder to shake her awake, only for the girl to sock him in the nose. They did get to see her face as she rolled over, and they saw the whisker marks that Naruto was so infamous for.

"Naruto?" they all cried, not sure how to react. Slowly the girl stirred as she looked blearily at the

As she yawned and brushed her hair out of her face, she asked, "Hey, why is everyone here? Why are you looking at me like that?"

They all stood dumfounded as the girl stretched, brushing a clump of red hair out of her face again "Seriously, why are you all looking at me like that? Ah well, I need to piss."

"Uh, Narut-" Ino started before Kiba clamped one hand over her mouth, his other pinching his nose.

"No, wait. Let's see how long it takes him to figure it out." Kiba said with a slightly sadistic gleam in his eye. Somehow Naruto managed to ignore her now waist length red hair and newly developed breasts, even though she had brushed the hair out of her face and scratched her left breast during her yawn. As Naruto shut the door, they heard her lower the seat on the toilet seat. After a few moments they heard a flush followed by the sink turning on and a shriek, causing everyone to wince. Kiba smirked, this proved to him that Naruto wasn't a girl before, seeing as she probably didn't recognize the face in the mirror.

Suddenly a scream ripped out of the bathroom as the feminized Uzumaki yelled, "WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TITS!"

XxXxXxXx

Author's Note: Well, mostly these reposted chapters are expanding on scenes, so here are some more explanations of how I'm writing this.

1) When describing an ANBU I'll use the English word for their mask, such as dog, but when they are called by name it will be the Japanese word with the -san honorific, like Inu-san.

2) I do not enjoy writing Hinata's stutter, so when I can get away with it, I will skip it.

3) I do not like the standard Council, and I imagine each Hokage ran the village differently. The First and Third let the general populace have a choice, the Second probably did everything himself, maybe an adviser or two, and the Fourth had a very select Council that was very small in number. This is how the Council meetings will go, but remember, it is a dictatorship, and it's just up to the 'king' how they run it.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 03: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, The Mini Habanero!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed in relief as he stamped the last form on his desk concerning last night's attempted theft and desertion. Three of the boys; Sasuke, Shino and Shikamaru, would stay in the Hospital under quarantine to make sure the dose of the Kyuubi's chakra they received wouldn't kill them. Iruka had been fine other than minor injuries, but he would have to be removed from active duty until he once again proved fit for duty. But the therapy sessions and the little job he had lined up for the young man would keep him busy enough to keep him from dwelling on it.

Naruto's role in the theft was overlooked and he had been rewarded for stalling the traitor with his promotion to genin. Even Danzo, who had recently been pressuring him to allow Naruto to be put under the warhawk's wing, had been pleased with this arrangement as he believed that Naruto's potential had been wasted over the years in the Academy. Everyone thought that both Iruka and Naruto had been working together on the so called 'case of corruption' in the Academy, with Naruto being handpicked for the job because of his status in the village.

Chuckling, Hiruzen stood and looked out over his domain. These were his subjects, his people. Many of the other Kages and Shinobi Leaders thought him weak, but they misunderstood that playing the kind king was just as effective as being a tyrannical ruler. Though it took several years for the civilians to realize this, and when they did, they fell back into their place in the pecking order. Everything was just perfect, total peace in his kingdom.

"Lord Hokage! There's been an incident with Uzumaki at the Hospital!" a cat masked ANBU cried as she entered through an open window.

"WHAT!?" The kind Sarutobi was gone, in his place was the Shinobi no Kami, the man that many feared.

The elderly man showed amazing spryness for his advanced age as he himself leapt out the window, racing across the roofs to the hospital. The civilians and merchants looked up in surprise as he dashed over the rooftops of the marketplace, startling many. He was soon joined by his own son, Asuma, and the local Taijutsu expert, Might Guy, who had both seen him rushing along the rooftops.

"Lord Hokage what's the emergency?" Guy asked, mission face on. Guy's Genin squad spotted their sensei dashing past them, and made to follow.

"Something has happened to Naruto." The Third said as he ditched his cloak and hat, a nearby ANBU grabbing them before they could hit the ground. While he was not wearing his battle armor, he was still ready for a fight. The three landed on the Hospital roof and dashed down the stairwell and followed it to the sixth floor. Dashing out of the stairwell, Hiruzen ignored the screaming nurses as he skidded in front of the room containing the boys. The ANBU he had left was inside the open door, lying on the ground next to Kiba, both unconscious.

"Where's Naruto?" the Hokage thundered, nodding quickly as the scared children pointed to the partially broken bathroom door. Guy reached it before he did and ripped the poor door the rest of the way off of its hinges and entered, only for a loud bang to be heard as Guy flew back out into the room. As the jounin collided with the wall, his team appeared. They watched in amazement and horror as their sensei crumpled to the ground, dazed and confused. They had never seen anyone do that before!

"Get away from me!" a shriek coming from the bathroom caused their attention to turn towards a young girl in the bathroom. She was clothed in a hospital gown and a pair of boxers that were wrapped around her ankle. Her red hair flared out into many fox tail like clumps as she radiated with anger, clutching the heavy porcelain lid of the toilet's tank.

"Kushina?" Asuma gasped, being thrown for a loop as he remembered the young chuunin girl that had entered his classroom one day in his early Academy years, as a guest speaker, proclaiming that she would be the first female Hokage ever. But his question had drawn her wrath.

"I'M NARUTO! 'TTBAYO!" she yell chucking the lid single-handedly like a disc at the chain smoker, catching him in the gut and dropping him to his knees. The Hokage froze, the incredulity of her statement catching him off guard. But the verbal tick and the whisker marks on her face stood out to him, as she panted heavily, still angry at anyone in range for her sudden transformation. Suddenly she grabbed the door and slammed it haphazardly back into its frame with a sudden crunch and the sound of spraying water meant she had ripped something out of the floor or wall and barricaded herself in the room.

Sarutobi calmed himself, after working himself up thinking the worst, he let out a strained chuckle and turned to the children who were now huddling in the far corner to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"Haruno, Yamanaka, go to the Nurse's station and bring back enough to help everyone into another room, and let them know that there are four more injured. Neji Hyuuga, go to my office and have the chuunin at the front desk help you find the paper work I signed this morning marked Form 52Y-27. Do not read its contents and have it sealed in an envelope before you leave. Take it to the nurse at the front desk. Tell her it's urgent and needs to be delivered to the Chief Medical Practitioner on duty immediately." He commanded, not wanting to scare anyone further, the situation was delicate at best with Naruto's new found form and temper. He continued "Lee, go to the Ichiraku Ramen stand and tell them it's Emergency Protocol Three. They'll understand and give you what you need. If you spill one drop I will have you doing D-rank missions for the next year!"

The four mentioned stood at attention and replied, "Yes Lord Hokage!"

XxXxXxXx

Naruto sat curled up in a ball next to the broken door. She was scared, her arms felt like they were being slowly crushed by the weight one of Choji's older cousins, and she wasn't sure what was going on. When she had first seen her reflection, Naruto had thought her mother had managed to find some sort of two way mirror from the afterlife to say something, only for her to realize that the person in the mirror was wearing a hospital robe. She had just used the toilet, instinctively sitting down to pee for some odd reason, and was going to wash her hands in the sink when she had caught her reflection. This all took a few seconds as she reached up slowly and prodded the lumps on her chest and screamed.

Naruto wasn't oblivious when it came to the human body, after all he had made the Sexy Jutsu through copious research of borderline pornographic model magazines and similar media, and it was a completely solid henge. She knew what boobs looked and felt like, and while groping them again they felt small in relation to her Sexy Jutsu. When the ANBU and Kiba had kicked in the door, and caught her groping herself with her naked ass was showing through the gown, she lost it. Somehow she had beat both of them and the weird guy with the huge eyebrows with the toilet lid before she heard her mother's name come out of another man's mouth. The man had mistaken her for her mother, and for some reason, it had pissed her off even more. She had nailed him with the lid before realizing that the Hokage was there as well, staring at her. She felt more embarrassed than ever and somehow managed to rip the sink out of the wall and use it to barricade the door.

"Why did I change like this?" Naruto wondered, under her breath, before feeling a sense of smug satisfaction radiating from the center of the seal, "Damn fox, should of known."

**"Bravo, Bravo! Encore! Well done monkey spawn. I don't think even your parents ever managed to take down an ANBU Operative and two jounin single-handedly as mere genin fresh out of the Academy. Bravo!"** The Kyuubi's voice was thick with amusement and sarcasm as Naruto appeared in her mind-scape, annoyed that she was a girl in here as well.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" Naruto roared, stomping her foot in such a manner that it caused the Bijuu to howl with snide laughter at how well the child was adapting to her new form.

**"Call it the first step to mastering my power. I am a Kitsune, and as such, I can take on any form I wish, so I passed this ability on to you. Once you gain full control of it you will be able to stop the preset transformations that I set up. This first one is to help get you use to the shape-shifting ability as a whole. I'll let you figure out the rest."**

Naruto stood dumfounded, her first 'cool' power from the fox and it turned her into a girl?

**"If you noticed, you were able to subconsciously focus on the muscles in your arms and force them to change during your little temper tantrum. It increased the density of the muscle and increased your strength tenfold. The pain you are now feeling because your muscles are slowly crushing your bones because you don't know what you need to about your species feeble bodies to do so safely. Be careful how you use this as it uses pure Yang chakra. The more drastic the changes you make, the more chakra it takes to make the change. It won't tire you out mentally, but still too many transformations will tire you out physically which could kill you, monkey-spawn"**

Naruto was about to retort when a smell hit her nose in the waking world, such a delightful aroma to. She drifted on cloud nine out of her mindscape and back into reality, Kurama silently chuckling as he watched.

XxXxXxXx

If anyone had walked into the destroy room on the sixth floor they would have noticed three things out of place. First, it was horribly damaged and a complete mess. Second, there were four bowls of take-out ramen sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a heavy duty fishing net bought off one of the fishmongers in the market that was concealed under the debris in the room. And the third and final thing was the three fully grown men peeking out over the edges of several overturned hospital beds acting as strategically placed barricades. One was the Chuunin Teacher from the Academy, another was the ANBU Captain Scarecrow, and the final one was the elderly Hokage, who had procured his battle armor.

Most people would recognize Emergency Protocol Three by now, as it generally cropped up once every year or so, but this was the second time in four weeks that it had been initiated. After realizing this, a smart person would have run unless ordered to stay and assist, which is exactly what the two nurses who walked in did. Or it could have been the three fully grown shinobi in full battle attire haunting the corners of a destroyed room that looked like an Iwa berserker went off in the middle of it. Either way, they ran off leaving the three men to their mission.

XxXxXxXx

After the rest of the rookies as well as the genin with the weird teacher had helped the injured into a new room, three floors down and on the complete opposite side of the building, they all sat and wondered. The nurses and a doctor had checked the wounded and made sure there was no true damage that was sustained, except when Kiba had woken up as a particularly healthy and buxom nurse was leaning over him to wrap his head caused him to howl out a 'Heeellllooooo Nurse!'

Needless to say he was back under without anesthetic quickly. It soon became too much for the oldest girl, a genin named Tenten, and she turned to her sensei. Guy, who was currently holding an ice pack on his bruised forehead, blinked at the sudden attention from his sole female student. He had been lucky enough to move back just enough to keep her from caving his skull in, though he would have to stay awake for the rest of the day.

"Guy-sensei, how did that tiny little girl do that to you?" the boy in green asked.

"She has a hidden strength, just like the only other Uzumaki woman I knew." Guy said shivering. From the head wound or the mention of this other Uzumaki, they didn't know.

"Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted, thrusting his hand in the air, "What did the Third Hokage mean by Emergency Protocol Three? The people at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand dropped everything they were doing to make the food I delivered."

"Well Lee, and everyone else would do well to listen as well, there were only five Emergency Protocols until a little over seven years ago. Protocol One is a riot has started in the village, and the ANBU and jounin need to enact pacification measures. Protocol Two is a large force of nuke-nin, bandits, or foreign shinobi, have appeared near or in the village, but are making no aggressive actions, observation only." Guy said, adjusting the ice pack, "The old Protocol Three is now Protocol Four, there is a large group of nuke-nin, foreign shinobi, and/or other miscellaneous enemies are actively attacking Konoha or its surrounding outposts. Protocol Five, old Protocol Four, is an enemy Shinobi Village has declared war and is actively attacking our shinobi across the Land of Fire and Konoha. Finally, Protocol Six, old Protocol Five, is an imminent Bijuu attack, such as when the Kyuubi suddenly appeared all of those years ago."

Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru shared a look that went unnoticed by their fellow genin, only the two jounin noticed and made a note of it.

"But Guy-sensei, what does Protocol Three mean and why is that idiot Naruto involved?" Sakura asked, not sure what was really going on. Asuma spoke up instead.

"Protocol Three was created because of Naruto. In fact, it has everything to do with Naruto. Protocol Three is when Naruto goes on some sort of rampage through the town, a pranking spree for example," Asuma shuddered in remembrance of the last time he had been roped into the capture squad. It had not been pretty and Naruto had gotten away from all three attempts before Iruka showed up, "Distract him with ramen. Lots and lots of ramen."

XxXxXxXx

The three men watched as the bathroom door slowly shifted sideways from its frame, being leaned against the wall by the small slip of a girl still clad in only her hospital robe, her underwear pull up this time. They all winced when they saw the sink that had been ripped out of the wall as more water spilled into the room. She walked out, sniffing the air, eying the ramen as if it was her prey. Slowly she tested the area around it, remembering all the failed attempts to catch her this way before. The men smirked, they had done a better job this time, straight from the Fourth Hokage's handbook on handling rampaging Uzumaki females. Normally, while Naruto in this state always got a chuckle or two, with her new form she was downright adorable. All three men suppressed the 'Awww' reflex that happened around adorable scenes, usually with puppies and babies. But being ninja, they were able to do so quite easily.

The Hokage held the rope that would close the net around the tiny red-headed girl, waiting to lull her into a false sense of security by allowing her to finish the ramen. Considering who she was in reality, her new adorable exterior aside, she polished of the first three in under forty-five seconds and was midway through the final bowl. As Naruto lifted the bowl to her lips to drain the broth, she saw Iruka peeking over the top of one of the beds.

Hiruzen cursed when he saw Naruto hurl the bowl at Iruka and pulled on the rope. At the same time, Iruka and Scarecrow leapt over the beds in an effort to contain her on the net. Naruto dove between Scarecrow's legs and rolled to her feet. Leaping to the windowsill, she turned in time to see the two men get entangled in the suspended net.

"Beeda!" Naruto blew a raspberry while pulling her eyelid down, laughing as the two men fell to the ground as they cut the net open. Naruto jumped out the window only to be caught by the scruff of her neck. Twisting around, she saw the elderly Hokage standing on the side of the building, staring at her with a completely blank expression.

Naruto, hoping to get out of more trouble, whimpered as the pain returned to her arms, remembering that she still didn't know how to change her muscles back to normal, and looked at him with big doe eyes. It didn't work.

"Kakashi-san, take her to the secure examination room, the one specifically reserved for her, so we can figure out what's wrong. Iruka, let Guy and Asuma know we have Naruto and then report with them to the examination room." Hiruzen ordered, only to stop when he saw Iruka's look of disbelief, "What is it?"

Iruka pointed to the hand that Naruto was being held by and the old man looked down, only to see that Naruto had managed to switch out with a straw effigy of her male self with a rude face drawn on it.

Iruka winced as the elderly Hokage crushed the dummy's neck, making the head pop off, and turned to start looking for the mini redheaded menace.

"Didn't worry Lord Hokage, Iruka, I have her," the ANBU said. His hood had been knocked off in the scuffle to get out of the net, revealing dark, dull gray hair that fell past his shoulders. Naruto was slung under his arm like baggage, pinning her arms against her sides to prevent him from being clawed at as she was wriggling around trying to get free.

XxXxXxXx

The rest of the graduating class had been trying to get details out of the three injured boys about the previous night during the hour and a half that they had been waiting for some word on Naruto. But the three remained tight lipped and said nothing about it. The two jounin, Guy and Asuma, had been called away by Iruka and the Hyuuga boy, Neji, had left citing that he was no longer needed here. His green clad teammate, Rock Lee, had quietly shouted something about youth and flames before jumping out of a window, leaving several of the smarter rookies to wonder at the paradox of quite shouting and what he had meant by the phrase he had uttered. Tenten had sighed and followed Neji out of the door and through the hospital, curious about the redheaded girl who had laid out two jounin and an ANBU.

"You know," Choji said, pausing in his snacking, "I just realized Naruto is a lot shorter than he-she-him? Whatever. She's a lot shorter than before."

"Yeah, your right!" Sakura said, "Before, HE was slightly shorter than me but SHE looks like an eight or nine year old child!"

"That's funny seeing as she still has a larger rack than you." Ino sniped at her pink haired rival. Sakura snorted and fumed, trying to keep from yelling while she was in the hospital.

"Naruto's physical stature, both before and now, is from malnutrition from living on her own for most of her life. With no one to make meals with the proper nutritional sustenance, I am surprised that both of her forms looked as healthy as they did. I suspect the owner of the ramen stand has been slipping what supplements he could into the ramen he makes for Naruto. Though I am puzzled as to why Naruto has turned into a girl though, the Uzumaki clan traits that we know of never listed any ability like this." Shino said.

"Clan traits? You mean everyone here besides me has special traits?" Sakura asked. Being a civilian, she never truly understood the inner workings of the shinobi clans. They learned about the basics of each of the clan's techniques and what they were best known for, but she never thought that each clan had specific traits associated with them.

"Yeah. Clans like the Akimichi and Inuzuka tend to have more physical traits, while my clan leans towards a specialized chakra element and Ino's lean towards specialized mental traits. This happens through selective breeding by the clans." Shikamaru said as he lounged back, idly tracing shapes in the plaster on the ceiling, "For example, Naruto could probably learn some of the Inuzuka's tricks and jutsu if granted permission from the clan head. She acted like a wild animal half the time in during the Academy, and Kiba acts like an animal all the time. Their physical traits and personalities are so close to being the same, and it's entirely feasible that Naruto has some Inuzuka in her genetic make-up because we know only her mother was from a clan."

"You know who Naruto's parents are?" Ino asked, it was good gossip material since almost no one in the village seemed to know.

"Nah, my mom likes to go on and on about the two of them before berating my old man for being as unromantic as a human could possibly be. She never said any names though, so I think it's supposed to be some kind of secret," the lazy boy said as he waved her off. Secretly he was hoping to get her snooping around, because she would drag Choji into it. If they found out about the Kyuubi and Naruto's parents themselves, Naruto would have two more friends he could rely on because Choji was a gentle boy and Ino had a bleeding heart for sob stories with bouts of heroism thrown about in them.

"Wait, so you're saying that if we had the correct physical, mental, or chakra traits that we could learn techniques from clans?" Sakura asked, surprised at the thought.

"It is possible for some clans. But generally if you're not family and you learn one of our techniques, you have two choices. You marry into the clan to keep it, or the clan hunts you down and kills you on sight. Those jutsu and techniques are generally unique to our clans, the only exception is the Uchiha." Shikamaru gestured to Sasuke.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he moved into a more comfortable position, "For clan's like the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, our techniques generally require our Kekkei Genkai, our bloodlines, to utilize. Our Taijutsu styles can be learned by outsiders, if they ask and are given permission, but are difficult to utilize in combat without our Kekkei Genkai. The only true Uchiha techniques come from the highest level of the Sharingan and our Taijutsu, so at the founding of the village the clans made an agreement in case an Uchiha accidentally learns their jutsu."

They tried to get Sasuke to tell them about the agreement, but he had spoken his quota for the day. Unless it was a doctor or someone in charge, all they would get was an 'Hn' in reply. The eight children sat in silence as they pondered the change in Naruto. Ino suddenly looked up and turned to Shino.

"Hey, what do you know about the Uzumaki Clan? What did they look like?" She asked, feeling as though part of the answer to Naruto's parents had been staring them in the face.

"Generally they grow to be between five foot seven and six foot tall, and favor a lean, dense build. They also had the longest natural lifespans in the known world and commonly had deep red or ginger hair. Other than that, the only thing I know about them is that they are honored for their sacrifice by Konoha, as seen in the swirl of the Leaf on our headbands, and the red vortex on the back the chuunin and jounin flak jackets."

"You speak of them as if they're..." Sakura started, no able to finish. Was Naruto like Sasuke?

"They've been dead since the Second Shinobi World War. The few remaining scattered, and Naruto is the only one known to have survived to this day." Shino nodded solemnly.

"But wait, Naruto was blond, but now he, she, has red hair like other Uzumaki!" Ino exclaimed.

"Yeah, we've confirmed Naruto's mother was an Uzumaki but we don't have any concrete evidence to who her father was. I have a theory about why Naruto changed like that as well. When the traits of two clans, or of those of strong genetic dispositions, merge into one person..." Shikamaru started.

"Then there is a small chance that, that they'll react in a way that gives birth to a new Kekkei Genkai." Hinata stuttered, her eyes wide.

"It's a random chance, miniscule at best. The Nara's have been selectively choosing husbands and wives for nearly a century now trying to turn our affinity to the shadows into an elemental manipulation bloodline, the first in the village since the First Hokage's. We think we're close to finding the first Nara to use the Yoruton (Night Release), the believed pinnacle of our shadow techniques. Using every shadow we can reach, even those in the black of night. That is my clan's goal, and every shinobi based clan in the village is trying to do the same for themselves. For someone like Naruto to randomly activate anything close to a bloodline is very slim, and a true Kekkei Genkai, is much more so."

"And it would have to breed true through four generations to be recognized as such." Iruka said as he entered the room, surprising everyone, "Just wanted to pop in and say Naruto is fine, but she is going through several extensive medical tests to see what exactly caused the change. They think something from last night acted as a catalyst for the change. They'll be checking you three using the same tests to see if anything has changed. Hopefully it won't be too bad."

The three bed ridden boys had caught the slight inflection on of the wording, nodding silently. But the others weren't so sure that they were going to believe that it happened by chance.

XxXxXxXx

Author's Notes: Okay, that's two people wondering about the girl transformation, I will say this now. It is the same as the first version, two days as a boy and one day as a girl, rinse and repeat. Please leave questions or critics in the review box below, and another mini rant on how I write!

1) The original version of the scene with the trap was too frivolous and complicated for the type of fic I'm going for. So I shortened it. I will still have light humor, but any stupidly funny stuff that I feel the need to include will be after the Author's notes and Mini-rants at the bottom of the fic as an Omake. No more, no less.

2) When Naruto is a boy, I will use he and him, when Naruto is a girl, I will use she and her. It helps differentiate and I can keep the two separate from each other as Boy Naruto acts normally, but Girl Naruto acts unconsciously like a girl but denies it every time it's pointed out.

All right, this is the half-way point for the revised chapters, my goal is to have all of these done by Wednesday at the latest depending on work. Hopefully I can post one a day over the next three days so everything afterward is new stuff.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 04: This just in: New Abilities Reported!

XxXxXxXx

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

XxXxXxXx

Naruto never felt as violated as she curled up under the covers in her assigned Maximum Security Room in the basement of the Hospital. Those smiling fiends that called themselves nurses had taken a sadistic pleasure in poking and prodding her body. The physical that they forced her to go through to determine that she was now fully female was downright mortifying. She shivered in fear as the door opened once more.

"How are you doing, Naruto?" Hiruzen chuckled as the neo-girl stuck her bandaged arm out from under the blanket and flipped him off.

Hiruzen picked up the medical report sitting on the table next to the bed. It had been a rough six hours for both Naruto and the nurses. The other three medical reports were in his hands from the boys, and the elderly leader patted the boy-turned-girl on the head now that she had pulled the covers down to see him.

"Now Naruto, don't worry. At least we fixed your arms, and we will figure out how to turn you back." It was Iruka who had figured out how to get the muscles in Naruto's arms to return to normal. It was a combination of being able to mentally picture the form you wanted and that the transformation itself took the energy to fuel it from her Yang chakra. They had found out that while it physically exhausted her, she maintained her mental acuity. They tried to get Naruto to transform into her male form, but all it did was tire her out, which they had suspected would be the case. As a nurse bandaged her arms, after applying a muscle relaxing lotion, they had discussed the possibility that Naruto had to eat and rest to replenish the energy lost from the ability and how the transformation persisted without any additional chakra.

When they told Naruto that they would try again tomorrow, she had thrown a hissy fit, which had driven Iruka into his 'Over-protective Big Brother' mode with her adorable angry face. Considering the young chuunin saw Naruto as a younger sibling, the Hokage pitied anyone who would inevitably try to 'score' with the tiny girl. He had left to check on the others as Iruka was muttering plans on how to train Naruto during the next month, not knowing that the Hokage already had something in store for the pain in his ass Uzumaki and the instructor.

"Well Naruto, you will stay in this room for the next five days if you want to be one of my shinobi. This is an order."

Naruto grumbled out an 'Okay Old Man' before she shifted around on the bed and settled against the pillow, her braided hair resting on the pillow. When he had asked why her hair was now braided, Naruto grumbled 'A nurse wanted to torture me.' After the incident earlier on in the day that required him to seek medical attention for the mild anxiety attack Naruto caused, he was perfectly fine with forcing the child to get used to people treating her like an 'adorable little girl' whether she liked it or not.

Hiruzen nodded to the two ANBU standing guard outside of the room. Both men saluted as they bolted the doors and stood in front of them to prevent access. Hiruzen chuckled as Asuma fell in step with him. Getting Naruto to apologize to his son and Guy was like pulling teeth. She had felt perfectly justified for belting Guy, Bird, and Kiba for going into the bathroom, though her reasoning for hitting Asuma was slightly off, mainly because she insisted that because he 'looked at me like an idiot' was more than reason enough. The jounin realized that he wasn't going to get a reason for why she hit him, and resigned to never know.

"Asuma, I'll be in my office for quite a while tonight, let Konohamaru know I'm sorry." Hiruzen said as he removed his helmet.

"Of course Pop. He'll be upset though."

XxXxXxXx

"Hmm, let's see here," the old Sarutobi looked at the first medical report, puffing on his pipe.

'-Patient: Aburame, Shino-... blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda... here we go, -Sudden rise in chakra levels and reserves, Aburame Entomologist called in, the beetles seemed to be feasting on less of his chakra than normal, but were more energized from his chakra. The beetles seem to hold small pools of chakra to feast on at a slower rate as well. Preformed Chakra Crystallization Test, the crystal is three times larger and several ounces denser than the average genin clan members. Reserves are expected to increase exponentially over time, possibility of supporting a K-15 level mixed species hive as well as learning and preforming D to C ranked Ninjutsu.-' Hiruzen read as he lit his pipe, "He's lucky that that's all that happened. His reserves will grow with his natural growth rate and when his skill increases, this young man will be powerful."

'Let's see, next is... -Patient: Uchiha, Sasuke- Same old same old, everything looks normal, what's this? -Note: Due to being the last member of clan... put to every genetic test... Discovered that the genetic code for the Sharingan can only be passed on through female carriers-?!' Hiruzen choked on his tobacco smoke as he reread the line, "The villagers are not going to be happy that their 'savior' can't pass the Sharingan on. I'll need to double the guard on both him and Naruto just in case they try to seduce the boy to prove this wrong or blame Naruto. I don't want to be forced to start executing idiots again. Though, now that I see this, it's no wonder the Uchiha were so withdrawn and secretive. If this had been public knowledge they would have died out years ago. Itachi truly wanted to end his clan's curse."

There was, as far as he could remember, never a child born to the Uchiha clan from a woman outside the clan that activated the Sharingan. Of course, of the clan of nearly three hundred strong, only about forty had ever activated it at a time. When the Shinobi Police had been established during the reign of the Second Hokage, all Uchiha had a choice given to them by the clan head of the time, they could join the Academy and go through their shinobi career knowing that they could retire to the police or join up if they failed the exam. They could also choose the Shinobi Police as their only career path.

"I'll have to break it to the boy gently. Part of his dream just became unachievable, and who knows what else could happen." Sarutobi drew a long breath before blowing a smoke ring, before continuing, '-There is also an anomaly attached to the genetic sequence that carries the code for the Kekkei Genkai, believed to be caused by the Kyuubi's chakra, has made a slight change that might cause unknown effects. The change is in the segment that carries an unmapped portion of the strand, though it should activate as normal.-'

"What a cluster fuck," Hiruzen sighed, putting the file down. One of his most promising genin would now be balanced on a thin wire, and saying the wrong thing could cause unimaginable results. Picking up the next file, he hoped it would be better.

'-Patient: Nara, Shikamaru- Hmm, Let's see... negative... negative... negative... negative... positive... neg... Wait, positive? Hmm... -Put to acid test, catalyst alongside the long successive line of selective breeding carried on by Nara clan has activated elemental manipulation like abilities. Shares similar sequences and marks as the First Hokage's Mokuton. Currently dormant?-' Hiruzen bolted to his feet in excitement, "Ha ha! Finally, some good news!"

The old man did a little jig that left the ANBU on guard in the room chuckling and wondering what he was happy about, but didn't leave their post.

'Now for Naruto. Heh heh. Let's see. -Fully female, blood tests confirm Uzumaki blood. Heavy influx of the Kyuubi's chakra caused bloodline like abilities to appear, the 'Shape-shifting' seems to have a preset transformation that is determined by unknown factors. Side note: Seems to act like Kushina Uzumaki in current form. Possibility of Mother-Child relation rather than just a clan relation?-'

This wasn't good, people were starting to figure it out. It was too soon for Naruto to know who his parents were. Kumo and Iwa would try to kill him, or even worse, kidnap her and force her to breed.

'Though, it may be too late now.' He thought. A knock on his door caused him to look up. It was a little past midnight and he didn't know who would be knocking at this hour. Signaling his ANBU to standby, he called out for them to come in. A young teen with silver hair and glasses quickly entered and knelt before the desk, an outdated gesture which was primarily used ANBU and older jounin, but he recognized Kabuto through the gesture.

"Lord Hokage, Doctor Misato sent me to tell you that around midnight, Naruto Uzumaki returned to his original form. She requests your presence to control the boy, whose enthusiasm seems to have put a dent in the doors to his room."

Hiruzen winced as he pulled the Hokage robes on. Those doors were reinforced steel and very expensive to replace. Whatever it was about those of the Uzumaki and Namikaze families that caused them to hate hospitals with a vengeance had been inherited by Naruto in full and then some due to the previous treatment he had received.

XxXxXxXx

Six Days Later, Hokage's Office

XxXxXxXx

While waiting on Naruto's tutor for her 'special class', Hiruzen sighed as he watched Naruto adjust her belt for the third time in as many minutes, cursing the fact her clothes didn't fit her new female form. The past week had been an interesting one to say the least. When Naruto had suddenly turned back into a girl two days after the first fiasco, everyone had been more prepared for it, and had strapped her down to the bed to keep her from injuring herself and others, seeing as she had another panic attack.

Since then they had gathered data that suggested that the timeline of this particular transformation was not up to Naruto, and from her grumbling it was most likely the demon fox's doing. They came to a rough conclusion, Naruto would spend forty-eight hours in his birth form and at midnight after the second day, he would shift into the female form. Dreading the thought of an innocent and naive female Naruto being taken advantage of, Iruka had demanded that he find someone to teach the neo-girl everything that she needed to learn in such a way that it stuck. Hiruzen knew that they would both regret it if anything happened to Naruto, so he called in the one kunoichi that had been banned from giving this lesson at the Academy.

It had taken considerable bribing and a promise to strike her last streaking incident off her record, but she finally agreed to do so, even if it meant hitting Naruto with a wooden club until it stuck.

"Hey Gramps, when is this lady supposed to get here?" Naruto asked as she sorted out the B and A rank missions. Things like escorts, assassinations and so forth. It may have been a security risk, but he could trust Naruto to keep her mouth shut about the contents. She wanted to be Hokage one day after all, and he could use the help at the moment. There was something he needed to take care of later tonight, and he couldn't be late.

"When she gets back from the mission I sent her on three days ago. It was a simple delivery mission that shouldn't take too long. So she should be back here soon." the old man cackled silently as he made sure to keep the D ranks close to him. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for Naruto, now would he?

"Mission success, Lord Hokage!" A jubilant voice cried out, causing Naruto to look up, "Now, where's this brat you want me to teach?"

Naruto stared dumbfounded at the lady that had just barreled through the open window. She had brown eyes and purple hair, clothed in only a mesh body suit, a brownish-orange mini skirt and a trench coat.

'This is supposed to be my sensei for my special training?' Naruto thought as the purple haired woman and the elderly Hokage argued over something, moving her head back and forth trying to follow the conversation about something that she didn't understand before the woman looked at Naruto with a predatory gleam in her eye.

"Well, it looks like you're with me for the rest of the day, Ichigo-chan! I'm Anko Mitarashi, your teacher on the art of being a woman!"

'She called me... Strawberry?' was all Naruto could think of, not hearing the rest of it, "What are you teaching me?"

"Basic feminine hygiene, how to act like a girl, move like a girl, what to expect about your girl body and...THE TALK." Anko loomed over the terrified neo-girl.

Naruto let out a screech and darted into the hall, and was attempting to scoot past Team Guy on the staircase when a weighted chain wrapped around Naruto's ankles. Team Guy watched in morbid fascination as the girl that had brained their sensei a week ago was dragged into the shadows of the Hokage's office, screaming and clawing at the floorboards. When the girl disappeared through the Hokage's door and out the open window, the team slowly moved into the room. Nothing looked out of place except for the trail of scratch marks that were etched into the wooden floor.

"Ah yes, Team Guy." the Hokage said, straightening his papers as if a breeze had blew them out of order, "I hope you remember Naruto, because your next mission involves him."

"Question, Lord Hokage!" Tenten said, hand in the air. She was slightly disturbed by the fact that the Hokage had steadfastly ignored the little red-haired girl screaming bloody murder as she was dragged out his window.

"Yes Tenten?" the elderly leader asked as he steadfastly ignored the damaged floorboards as if they had always been like that.

"Isn't Naruto a girl?" the budding Weapons Mistress asked, confused and slightly terrified over the entire thing concerning the red-haired girl.

"Naruto has a unique ability that, so far, has only been recorded in him, or in this case, her. In essence, we are both correct. Naruto has come into possession of an ability she has named 'Tenkan (Change)', which allows her to change her form at will, though there seem to be some preset forms that she has no control over. But it is the boy you will be working with on the first day of the mission and the girl on the second day. Afterward you will be at Iruka's beck and call to help Naruto during his and her training." Hiruzen sipped a cup of tea as he leaned back, "It is partly my fault for what happened, with the joint mission I put Iruka and Naruto on, his skills had to suffer for the ruse to be perfect. Your job is to help him, and her, purchase and learn how to use and care for his new equipment. He also needs appropriate attire for as both a shinobi as well for his new feminine form, though he probably will fight tooth and nail over his jumpsuits. This mission is going to be done in tangent with Iruka, who was forcefully volunteered to keep him from moping over the unfairness of life in general. Meet with him tomorrow and he will tell you what else he may want you to do."

"Yes Sir! We won't fail!" the four shinobi cried.

"Guy, all I truly foresee happening is Tenten and Neji working on this one for a few weeks, while you and Lee maybe only there to assist with his Taijutsu. Please keep this in mind."

"Yes, Lord Hokage, I understand." Guy said as he left the room, allowing his team to locate Iruka while he pondered the meaning and usefulness of Naruto's new ability.

XxXxXxXx

That Night, in the abandoned Catacombs under the Hokage Mountain

XxXxXxXx

Hiruzen sighed as he walked through a supposedly collapsed tunnel, mimicking the needed techniques to bypass it quite easily. It was time to deal with Danzo, and he hoped his old friend and rival would back down without a fight. It was time for the 'Shinobi no Kami' to fully come out of retirement. Seeing as he maybe had a year or two at most before he was forced to relieve his post to a younger more qualified person, now was the time to begin cleaning up his mistakes. Starting with these upstart ROOT Operatives that appeared in front of him.

"No time to chat children, I have an appointment to keep." Hiruzen said as he brought his staff to bear. He was quick and efficient in taking the men down with non-lethal blows, leaving two mud clones behind to restrain them. He had to keep moving.

Three more times he was attacked, and three more times he quickly dispatched his attackers with non-lethal tactics and precision. Then he met a pale skinned boy whose black clothing and hair stood out against the candlelit wall. Two scrolls were spread out in front of him as the elderly Sarutobi sensed he was channeling chakra. He watched in amazement as a group of ink constructs in the form of lions rose from the paper.

"Choujuu Giga." the boy intoned lifelessly. The lions attacked, but Sarutobi slipped around them and struck at the boy, and with him losing consciousness the ink constructs fell apart. Hiruzen knew the boy had no name, which was how Danzo operated. A name was only earned through extraordinary deeds, though one would temporarily be given one for a mission, but very few ROOT Operatives ever got a permanent name. The boy himself was low chuunin in level and carried himself like an ANBU. Hiruzen knew the boy's life could be spared if Danzo had to be dealt with as he was too young to have the seal placed on him.

Hiruzen finally made it to the heart of the base, Danzo sitting in front of him with his back turned. The war-hawk was flanked by two senior members of ROOT if the lack of masks meant anything, and on the wall in front of him was a map of Konoha, marking all the entrances to this facility.

"Hiruzen, you are still too soft." Danzo said as he studied the map, placing a marker over the hospital, the Uchiha District, and Naruto's apartment complex, "Torune, send three squads to lock down these locations. No one outside of Konoha is allowed near those genin."

"I refuse to kill my own men for believing in you. Especially since I have been passing them orders for all these years." Hiruzen said as he picked up another marker and placed it over a temple on the outskirts, "You there," Hiruzen said pointing to the remaining unmasked ROOT agent, "Guard this location. Only Naruto is allowed in."

Fu hesitated. Danzo had looked surprised as the Hokage walked up, and didn't know how to take the command. He was loyal to Danzo, and Danzo was loyal to Konoha. But the Lord Hokage was Konoha's Dictator. It didn't matter how kind hearted he acted, so when Danzo gave a slight nod, Fu left to assemble a team to do as he was told.

"Why are you here, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked as he tapped his cane on the ground, calling out another ROOT Operative.

"I have made many mistakes in ruling this village and I need to start fixing them." Hiruzen said as he stood shoulder to shoulder with his old rival, "I have maybe another one or two years at most left in me before I am forced to retire. There are too many mistakes and I can't fix them on my own. Ever since I retook my throne I knew that I couldn't be seen with my hands on certain incidents, I needed a way to keep my fingerprints off of them, even though they threatened Konoha and its citizens."

Hiruzen turned and walked to the center of the room and looked up, seeing a ceiling composed of the roots of the forest that acted as a natural barrier for their village. It seemed to be too idealistic of his rival, causing him to chuckle, "I knew you never shut ROOT down, so I found out a way to pass the information to you without anyone knowing. Not even you."

"I suspected. Sometimes you were a little too free with your words." Danzo said, sighing, "What is it you want with me, Sarutobi? You didn't come here for a simple talk or to kill me."

"I think it's time for us to open a direct line of communication for these missions Danzo," Hiruzen turned and glared at the bandaged man, "You are still under my command. Either you comply or I your tenure as the head of ROOT will be at its end, and you will be removed by any means necessary."

Danzo stiffened at the casual way that his old rival spoke of terminating his life. He knew about knew about almost everything he had done, all to further Konoha as the strongest village.

"We will explain the truth to Sasuke. With the information I have received about his clan after Iruka's mission, he needs to know everything. That is the first mistake we will correct." Hiruzen then blasted his rival with high levels of Killing Intent, immobilizing him and the rest of the Operatives in the room, "Do I make myself clear, Shimura!"

Danzo struggled to throw off the effects of the Killing Intent, which wasn't easy when he couldn't use his hidden Sharingan without tipping of Hiruzen, "Of course, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen turned on his heel and left, though he stopped at the door of the room, "People revere me as the 'Shinobi no Kami', a god amongst men. But if I am to remain that way, I shall need someone to support and drive me from the darkness, a 'Shinobi no Yami' so to speak. Let me know if my old partner is ready to act Danzo, for I have shed my shell once more, but from what I can see, you have not."

The Sarutobi patriarch left just as he had come, with a steady and measured pace. Danzo punched the wall next to the map. Hiruzen was right, they had both grown weak over the years. Both of them would need someone to replace them soon. It was time for him to start rectifying his mistakes as well, starting now.

"Bring me the boy, it's time to give him his next mission." Danzo said, "And to bestow him a name."

As the old warhawk moved to the meditation chambers to think on what had happened, he only had one thought, 'We have both grown weak, my old friend, but I am still stronger. If you fail, I will take the reins.'

XxXxXxXx

The Next Day

XxXxXxXx

Iruka watched as Naruto sat on the roof of his apartment, staring at the ground and people below him with a muted horror etched across his face. His lesson with Anko had lasted through the night and Iruka had seen Naruto stumble out of the classroom that she had commandeered for the lessons that she gave Naruto early that morning. Even then he had an almost blank, horrified look on his face. Even though not many people were out and about that early in the morning, people actively moved out of his way.

Iruka had been confused when Naruto had staggered up onto his roof after several tries that had left large bruises because he couldn't focus enough on what he was doing, only what he had learned under the crazy woman. All of the while, Iruka had only one thought, 'What had Anko done to him?'

Iruka had been watching for over two hours before Naruto quickly stood up. The blond had suddenly developed a very worrying twitch that shook his whole right side as he flipped onto the balcony next to his apartment and rushed inside.

"Iruka, what's wrong?" Iruka jumped as he turned, a kunai drawn and to his assailant's throat. Or so he thought, as his arm was quickly grabbed and he was then flipped over the assailant's head and landed on his stomach. Before he knew it, an old man was sitting on him.

"Sorry, Lord Third."

"Of course Iruka. Now, what's wrong with Naruto?" Sarutobi asked as Iruka groaned as he was helped up.

"Anko's training is what happened. Combine with it the fact it's generally something that most men never learn until later in life, the fact that he's normally a twelve year old boy and how in depth Anko probably went, I think it might have been too much!"

Hiruzen sighed, for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past week and a half, before turning to the apartment, "Well I better go talk to him."

The two men walked over to the building and knocked on the door, but they got no answer. Opening the door, they saw a giant hole in the opposite wall with words relating to what he had learned from Anko scrawled around its edges. In the distance they saw him wearing his jacket inside out and his pants were missing. Hysterical laughter sounding in the distance as he danced around in the streets with a terrified cat whose owner was screaming in horror as the blond menace proceeded to waltz down the street with her beloved pet.

"ANBU!"

XxXxXxXx

Author's Notes: All right, here's tonight's chapter. Not much for me to say tonight, only one mini rant.

1) Naruto's apparent age in his female form is a direct correlation to the fact I believe to be the fact that I have never seen him eat anything besides Ramen unless he was at a festival. Growing up on his own with no one giving him proper nutrition resulted in his short stature, but he at least had muscles to back it up. So short boy turns into tiny girl, with almost no muscle definition but a good amount of baby fat to up the adorableness, this will be fixed by Iruka the best he can.

Alright, before I finish off for this chapter, one last thing. At the end of Chapter Six there will be a poll/questionnaire to see what you want to happen for some parts of the fic I'm torn on. I literally cannot decide one way or another. It will cover several topics that will come up later, but I will be posting it with Chapter Six.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 05: Getting Equipped and the Fox's Cunning

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

XxXxXxXx

"This is the place," Tenten said as she looked up at the large apartment complex in front of her, "Iruka-sensei said he lives on the top floor."

Tenten and Neji walked up the outdoor staircase, neither in a particular hurry. They were given male Naruto today and would work with female Naruto tomorrow to outfit and equip the young genin for both forms. With the Hokage paying for most of it, they could afford to go through what he had and replace everything if need be. It would be interesting to say the least.

Knocking on the door, Tenten couldn't help but marvel at the view he had from up here. There was a shout and what sounded like a bookcase or scroll rack falling over which was followed by cussing. The door opened and the two saw a blond boy wearing a pair of cotton pants and a black t-shirt, either he had just woken up or was getting ready for the day.

"Oh, hey. You're the guys that Gramps said were going to help me?" Naruto said, wearing a squinty smile that made him look like a fox.

"Yes. May we come in?" Neji asked, trying to restrain his disdain for the boy. He was not the failure that many thought he was because he had been under orders. On the other hand, he had been so consumed by his act, he allowed his skill and abilities to deteriorate. The blonde's fate had been clouded, but would soon be clear to the genius Hyuuga.

Naruto ushered them into the apartment, which was surprisingly clean other than an overturned scroll rack and a quickly patched hole in the wall with several strange phrases scrawled around it. Naruto noticed their stares and quickly explained.

"I had a slight nervous breakdown yesterday, nothing to worry about." he said as he moved to a table that was covered with diagrams and scrolls, most of the ideas crossed or scribbled out. His statement did little to reassure them as Tenten looked back at the wall, unnerved by the disjointed phrases and words written on it.

"Trying to create a Taijutsu style?" Neji asked picking up one of the unraveled scrolls, slightly impressed. The few simple ideas and sketched diagrams he could make out would work if the boy was taller or significantly heavier. It wouldn't work for him now but later in life it could, "It looks like you can't figure this out, but that's not too surprising. Our sensei is a Taijutsu specialist, he could help you develop it."

Naruto decided to take the comment as though it meant it was difficult to create a style from scratch. Naruto wanted a style that would fit in his Tenkan, seeing that he was going to try to convince the Kyuubi to have it passed down to his children. Being able to create sudden weight or height changes as well as shifting his muscle and bone density would take anyone by surprise. But he still didn't know how to do those particular changes, he didn't even understand how he had increased the muscles in his arms the first time about a week ago.

"I'm trying to create something that would work with my new ability, like Choji's clan or yours." Naruto said, "What are we starting with?"

Neji was taken by surprised. He thought Naruto would fight like a berserker, but for him to try to create a unique style that fit his abilities meant he was trying for something more.

'He wants to revive his clan, doesn't he?' Neji shook his head. The boy was still a failure, though it was the most probable dream that he could accomplish, more so than anything else he could try to do, "Bring all of your weapons, tools and anything similar you wish to use for Tenten to examine while I look at your armor and attire. We will look them over them and either pass them for use or discard them due to deficiency."

Naruto nodded and left the room to gather the items requested. The two of them turned back to the table. Naruto didn't seem to care that the papers were sitting where anyone could see them, but only one thing even remotely referenced his new abilities that Lord Hokage had briefed them on so they figured it was okay if they saw anything.

'Jihatsu... Shifuto? (Spontaneous Shift)' Tenten thought. It was just a name on a blank scroll. No sketches, notes, nothing accompanying it, "Neji, what do you think of this?"

"He obviously wants to create techniques to complement his abilities, but with only a name, it could mean anything." Neji said as he began clearing the table. They would need it to keep the items they were examining it on. They cleared it quickly as they heard Naruto coming out of the room on the other side of the small apartment. Turning around, they blanched at the sight of not one, but two safety orange jumpsuits in his hands.

"Don't say anything until we're done." Tenten whispered, elbowing the white-eyed boy. She had seen Naruto outside the Academy a lot when she was around the village and it seemed like he had some sort of attachment to the clothes, and it would be difficult to get him to change them.

"Tenten, go ahead and get started." Neji said gesturing to the weapons pouch and holster. "I'll start with these."

Neji examined the jumpsuits, much to his distaste. The color wasn't the only thing that made them unfit for shinobi use. The bulk of the padding offered some protection, but there was no armor sewn in between the padding and the layers of fabric, there were no extra pockets for hidden weapons either. The pants were not any better than the jackets, so he moved on. The sandals were civilian issue, no extras added. The headband was used and worn, someone had worn it before him. Naruto saw his questioning look.

"Iruka gave me his old headband to replace my goggles when they were broken in the fight against that bastard Mizuki," Naruto said, fondness in his voice as he spoke of his trusted eye-wear.

"I'd like to see the goggles," Neji requested, though it sounded like a command. Naruto glared at the older genin, but retrieved the goggles from their resting place, it wouldn't help him to overly antagonize the people who were helping him. Neji plucked the goggles from his hands and examined them closely. One lens was broken out of its frame and the second was cracked.

"Tell me why you bought these." Neji said, examining the goggles closely. If the lenses were replaced, it was the second most useful piece of equipment he had.

"I originally bought them to keep chalk dust out of my eyes," Naruto said, "Cleaning the Academy's erasers is one of Iruka's favorite forms of punishment."

"Replace these lenses with new ones will allow for better fighting in certain weather conditions." Neji finish removing the glass shards from the frames, "These can be useful in many situations you will encounter during your career."

Tenten nodded with Neji's assessment, "As far as these weapons are concerned, they're standard quality, but useless in battle because of neglect. They are more likely to shatter than they are to protect you. Plus with the low amount you have, you aren't fully equipped to handle yourself in a small fight, let alone a large scale battle that something like taking out a group of bandits can turn into."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly, "I was planning to replace them here soon, but after spending an entire week in the hospital and my breakdown yesterday, things were kinda hectic."

Tenten sighed, "At least you were planning to replace them. Everything you have needs to be disposed of properly. We don't need kids finding them."

"Your apparel is in a similar state," Neji said, holding his hand up to forestall any complaint, "The headband and goggles, once repaired, are the only things that are befitting of your new role as shinobi. The sandals and jumpsuit are more suited for civilian wear."

"I'm wearing my jumpsuit." Naruto was actively glaring at the Hyuuga, "It was given to me by a friend of mine, a man from Iwa. He told me he wanted to always be able to find me when he visited, and he visited a lot for a few years because he was an emissary that ran messages between the Tsuchikage and Gramps for a while."

"Why would you accept a gift from an Iwa-nin?" Tenten asked, worried about Naruto accepting such a gift from a man who fought for an enemy village.

"He's a hermit that lives outside of Iwa and rarely does missions anymore according to Gramps. He said that we were alike, both of us shunned for something we couldn't control. I recently found out what he meant by that. There are very few people like the two of us that exist in this world." Naruto said, remembering the day they had met many years ago.

"Then here's what we'll do." Tenten said clapping her hands, causing both boys to look up, "First off, how many of these do you have?"

"Four, two are in the wash right now," Naruto said, looking at her strangely. Both of the older genin mentally balked at the idea of four of these things, but it never showed on their faces.

"Then those two we'll leave for tomorrow when we equip your female form. We're going to take them with us to the shop I go to and have them modified for shinobi use. We'll have the color darkened so it's still orange enough for you, just not the 'kill me' color it's screaming right now. I'm sure Neji has a few suggestions for it as well. Tomorrow, when we go back, the other two will be modified to fit your female form so that you have something to wear as a girl. I'm also going to help you get some casual clothes for both forms. You're not a kid anymore, so you can't wear the same thing all the time."

Neji snorted and muttered "Lee and Guy-sensei."

"Lee's a bit nutty, and Guy-sensei is beyond help, but they're good teammates Neji, and you know it." Tenten shot back, "All right, let's get going. Higurashi's is opening soon."

XxXxXxXx

"Welcome, welcome! Let me know if you need anything!" a middle aged man called out from behind the counter, his back turned to the door the three had just walked through, "If you're a civilian though, SCRAM!"

Naruto started at the shout, but held his ground. He was a shinobi of Konoha, he had the headband to prove it.

"Relax Ryu. I brought someone to get outfitted, we're going to need to restock everything for him." Tenten said. Ryu was a good guy, if a little ornery. He ran a shinobi only store for a reason, being a retired shinobi himself, he believed that civilians were only good for keeping the economy flowing. That didn't mean he would allow them to browse his wares though. Last thing he needed was some stupid civilian brat running himself through playing with one of his shop's swords.

Ryu turned around, frowning when he saw Naruto, "Come to apologize you little runt? It took me seven days to scrub the graffiti off the front of my store."

Naruto snorted, "You threw me out of the shop while yelling at me!"

"Read the sign runt, 'Shinobi only. No academy students or civilians allowed!'" Ryu said gesturing to the sign that sat out in front of his door, "It's been that way since my father opened the store!"

Naruto blanched, that was the reason he was thrown out? "What about... that?"

Naruto gestured vaguely to his whiskers, causing Ryu to snort, "Don't care. Once you and I work out how you're going to repay me for that week of profits I lost because of your stunt, you can shop here as long as you have the cash to. I don't turn away paying customers of any sort due to the limited crowd I cater to."

"The Hokage is funding Naruto to get him up to par on equipment and weaponry. We'll be back tomorrow as well after we get some of the basic stuff today. We'll also be placing some special orders because he activated some weird new ability about a week ago. Can you work out that deal tomorrow after we finish up, Ryu?" Tenten cut in, not wanting to get thrown out of her favorite store over the blonde's cheeky attitude.

"If the Hokage ordered it, I'll put it aside for now. First let's get those clothes out of the way." Ryu said before he flinched at the sight of the two bright orange coats and a pair of matching pants.

"First thing, we need several jumpsuits in this same style," Neji said, "Uzumaki is most comfortable with this style of clothing, and it is easier to request something similar than to argue with him."

"Colors?" Ryu asked, a little relieved that he could just trash the original jumpsuits after he passed the measurements on for his niece so she could make the new ones.

"The majority of it should be black, and because he asked, have parts of it in a darker, less noticeable shade of orange." Neji looked slightly miffed at what he was saying, "We will also be bringing two more of these in tomorrow for similar modifications."

"Alright, anything specific that you want done for the jacket or pants?" Ryu had pulled out a note pad and was scribbling down the already mentioned changes, before pointing his pencil at Naruto "I'll need to measure you to fit them runt, go into the back room and strip down to your boxers."

Naruto was about to retort with something that would have, without a doubt, been downright rude or vulgar when Neji continued, "He should have several removable armored plates between the fabric as well as several hidden pockets on the inside. Scroll slots should be added on the outside similar to a jounin vest. The only thing that needs of repair are these goggles. The new lenses should be able to resist damage such as nicks and scratches. I'll let Tenten take care of the rest."

"Don't worry Ryu, I can get the weapons he needs so you can go ahead and measure him. I think he should get a couple of weapons for close combat, but I need to test him first to see what he can use first." Tenten said, moving away to look over the equipment racks, "I've always thought that having a few weapons that you specialize in is a good thing."

Ryu snorted, "Says the self-declared Weapons Mistress."

Tenten glared at him but decided against retorting. Ryu was one of the few weapon smiths that took apprentices outside of their family in the village, and with her being an orphan, he was her only chance to learn. Once she convinced him to make her his apprentice, of course.

As Tenten was compiling a list of weaponry and equipment they would need to test Naruto's skill with before buying, Neji and Ryu dragged Naruto into the fitting room in the back of the store. As Ryu called out measurements for the Hyuuga to write down, he picked up a lot on Naruto's physical condition.

"Well runt, I think that I'm going to make these suits adjustable so you're not spending too much money on replacing them. You're fixing to start growing like a damn weed." Ryu said as Neji scribbled several measurements down on a pad of paper.

"Why are you saying that?" Naruto asked, ready to move, but every time he tried Ryu rapped him over the head and told him to keep still.

"For one, I know about that mission you and your Academy teacher had, so he's probably going to help you get back into shape. Two, your malnourished, something that lead to that crippling height deficiency you seem to be suffering from. There's a diet plan that can fix that in about two months' time, if you stick with it. And finally you're twelve, it's only natural for kids to start growing once they hit puberty." Ryu replied.

The smith didn't notice the subtle tightening of muscles that happened in Naruto's neck when he was reminded of Anko's crash course of similar matters, while Neji did notice and wondered if it was connected to the strange half written phrases scrawled on the apartment wall. Ryu finished up and had Naruto get dressed again. Tenten was waiting with a list in hand for the two of them by the counter.

After letting Ryu know that they would be back the next day to make the purchases and finish the specialized orders, Tenten let Neji leave for his own training while she took Naruto to get some casual clothes for when he was off-duty. After the trip, Naruto was horrified when he realized it would be worse the next day because it would be for his girl form, and she needed a lot more clothing for what was rapidly becoming a pain in his twelve year old ass. At least Tenten liked pants more than skirts and understood Naruto's need to avoid them for the most part. They would do the shopping after going back to Higurashi's in the morning, and Naruto knew Ryu was going to make his life miserable when 'she' showed up tomorrow.

After a horrible experience in the civilian stores, mainly due to the women thinking that he and Tenten were dating and making all sorts of comments, Tenten eventually lead Naruto to a training field where they met Iruka. Iruka was there to help simplify things for the boy while Tenten started lecturing him on how to properly care for his tools and gear, using extras from her own stash for demonstrations. After an hour or so, Tenten decided to start testing him with her arsenal of weapons. It was to help give him an edge in the field, as well as to make sure she wasn't useless in this mission like Lee would most likely end up being. After an hour or so, she let him have a breather as she thought over what they had practiced with.

"Well, pole arms and chained weapons are out. So we can assume that anything that requires complex movements are as well. They just don't fit your style of going in head first. Axes and hammers are too heavy for you, so they're out as well." Tenten watched as the boy slowly nodded with her assessment. None of the weapons had felt right in his hands. "You did well with a sword, but I think we need to go further with them to see if you have a specific type best suited for you."

Iruka watched with a sadistic gleam as Tenten proceeded to beat Naruto into the ground until they found a simple sword with a straight edged blade he could work with, a jian.

"Alright you two, that's good enough for tonight. Tenten, be prepared to do this again tomorrow, I don't think that sword will work for 'Ichigo-chan'" Iruka snickered at Anko's nickname for Naruto's female form. It was probably the only good thing that came out of his one sided argument with her as Anko's rebuttals were 'I was following orders,' and 'If you're not doing anything tonight, I'll let you do me.' Needless to say he lost that argument very quickly before he made a run for it after she had whispered that last phrase in his ear.

"Come on Naruto, we need to talk about what training you're going to be doing over the month. While we talk, I'll show you how to cook the food I expect you to eat during our training." Iruka's grin did not give Naruto any feeling of happiness when the blond saw it. In fact, it terrified him quite badly.

XxXxXxXx

Naruto's next day mortified her from the very beginning of the day. Getting measured to modify her remaining two jumpsuits at Ryu's was embarrassing. While his niece measured the tiny redhead, Ryu kept chuckling as he glanced at the door to the back room kept loudly mentioning that 'Naru-chan' was a 'growing girl'. This had frazzled her nerves to the point that she was snapping at anyone that talked to her.

After Tenten informed Ryu she would be back after their training session to drop off the last of the special orders for Naruto's gear, the older kunoichi dragged the tiny red-haired Uzumaki through the shopping district once more. While Ryu and his niece were taking care of 'On Duty' clothing for Naruto, all the casual clothes had to come from somewhere else. Naruto's day took a distinct downturn when she realized that they were going to be shopping for girl's underwear _for her_.

To top off the list of bad things that had happened to the neo-girl, Anko had appeared in the front door of her apartment when Naruto and Tenten stopped by to drop off her new clothes, causing Naruto to dive out of her window in an attempt to escape the psycho woman. The escape turned into a chase much to Tenten's confusion and amusement.

Now Naruto was just finishing up finding a weapon for her female form as well, at Tenten's insistence. Iruka had been right when he had said that the sword she had used in her male form the day before was wrong for her female body. It had become had become too unwieldy because of its length, it was just too long her smaller female form to use properly. They eventually found a weapon for her, a wooden gunbai that allowed Naruto to use her natural wind elemental affinity, which she had learned from Iruka testing both over the last couple of days. She could also use it to bash someone's head in as Tenten demonstrated when Lee had snuck up on the older girl.

Naruto and Ryu had managed to work out a deal on how Naruto would repay him for the damages. Three times a week, for a couple hours at a time, Naruto would assist Ryu around the shop. Naruto would be restocking shelves, minding the counter, and unloading shipments. It would also be supplemental income once her debt was paid off as Ryu offered it as a permanent position.

Naruto took it, knowing that other genin like Ino were working part time in different shops around town as well as performing their expected duties as shinobi. Iruka had thought it was a great idea, as it would keep Naruto busy during her down time and gave her an option of employment on the off chance that something happens to cause the young Uzumaki to quit the shinobi life. Tenten on the other hand, had been put off for a bit before smiling, saying that as long as Naruto was only working the shop and not trying to become Ryu's apprentice she was okay with Naruto working there.

Naruto ended up getting the next three days off from training, as he would be spending those three days in the Hospital again. The Hokage had finally let the villagers and shinobi know about Naruto's shape-shifting, letting them all believe that it had been a lost ability of the Uzumaki clan. They would start with several basic trial and error experiments under the eyes of several clan heads and a full team of doctors to make sure nothing went wrong.

While Naruto had been tight lipped about the origins of his ability, the civilians started talking as they always did. They noticed the little red-haired girl with whisker marks and blue-grey eyes running around the day before, and put two and two together. What they came up with was several farfetched theories about how the Uzumaki clan had been the hybrid offspring of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and a mortal love, male or female depending on who told it. They started saying how Naruto had played pranks and use that Sexy Jutsu of his to confound men, like his 'kitsune ancestors' had done many times in the legends.

Though they were completely unaware of it, even when they whispered about it near Naruto, the Kyuubi could hear everything, and he was using these folk legends to propagate the story that he was an actual kitsune like they believed him to be, instead of a fox shaped mass of sentient chakra.

**'Sometimes,'** Kurama thought as he filed away some of the abilities that he could easily recreate, **'Even a group of monkeys all screaming at once can create a story worth telling.'**

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Author's Note: All right, I'm ahead of schedule, and I have no mini rant this time. That last line by the Kyuubi has a meaning. It means that even with a hundred people in the same room screaming out their ideas at the same time, something can come of it. By the fact that he can over hear what Naruto hears because of the altered seal, he is gathering information to further his own plans and hide his true nature. He pretends to be a real Kitsune because at this point in canon, no one really knows the truth behind the Bijuu. So he is plotting and keeping himself entertained, waiting for his chance to step up his plans. That's all for now! Dingo Out!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06: Experimental Shift, Recruit the First Minion!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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Kabuto watched as the young whisker marked boy hopped up on the table before introducing himself, "Hello Naruto, my name is Kabuto Yakushi, an Apprentice Medic. I will be the one administering the tests for your abilities, some at the request of the clan heads and others at the request of several high ranking shinobi that Lord Hokage has cleared for these tests. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why isn't an actual doctor doing this?" Naruto asked, squinting at the gray-haired boy who just laughed.

"I'm only a month away from taking my certification test, but it was decided that I should administer the tests because I have the necessary level of skill and I'm the closest to your age. All to make you more comfortable. Now then, we'll start with requests from the Clan Heads."

At first everything went quite slow as Naruto didn't know much about human anatomy, but Kabuto coached him through it with patience. While most of it was simple stuff, changing his nails and teeth to claws and fangs at Tsume Inuzuka's request or the slightly harder concept of changing his skin or hair colors, they did find limitations.

Naruto's chakra signature stayed the same no matter what he did, it was only his physical features that changed. He was limited by his knowledge of the human body, and how tiring activating the transformations became after several quick or extreme changes. They also discovered a benefit being that unless Naruto wanted to change back, he stayed the same way he was after each transformation without a time limit, showing how he could have passed as Shikamaru's twin brother while he ate a big lunch to recover his energy. When Hyuuga Clan Head stepped forward, and the true tests of Naruto's ability started.

"Uzumaki-san, I want you to imitate my eyes, the Byakugan," Hiashi stated. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation. If Naruto could mimic Kekkei Genkai, they could easily slip him into a clan from a foreign village as an infiltration mission, giving him greater access to the village than he would get posing as a normal civilian or shinobi.

When Naruto had made the changes, they found out that he could not utilize the Byakugan at all. None of its abilities would activate for him, despite knowing what it could do from the brief descriptions that Hiashi had given him. Then a silver haired jounin stepped forward from the back of the crowd and revealed his Sharingan eye hidden under his headband at the Third's command. The results were the same. He could copy the physical attributes of either of the two the Doujutsu, but he couldn't use them despite knowing the basics of what they did.

"**It's because your body is not made to use those abilities."** Kyuubi had replied when he had silently questioned the fox, "**Your body is suited for the use of your shape-shifting, meaning you could possibly mimic some of the more benign physical bloodlines when you become more experienced, but at the moment anything you try could harm you beyond my ability to repair."**

The tests went on as the gathered crowd came up with more ideas. They had tried to get him to copy the First's Mokuton abilities, but he couldn't change his chakra elements to fit the needed nature transformations. They had been running out of ideas and quietly discussed any others while Naruto took a break to replenish his energy. That was when Kabuto got an idea.

"Naruto, this may be dangerous for you to try, but there was once a clan from Kiri that utilized their own bones as weapons. I want you to try to make a bone spike come out of the palm of your hand. Stop if it becomes too painful or too much for you to handle."

Naruto ignored the Kyuubi's previous warning and tried to form the spike, seeing as all of the doctors that were watching the tests were on standby the moment Kabuto had said it may be dangerous to him. As soon as his bone started to move, he screamed in pain, stopping the movement. Kabuto and two others quickly restrained him and put the bone back in place, numbing the pain.

"The final conclusion for this portion of the test is that Naruto cannot duplicate any known Kekkei Genkai because his body is not suited to use them, either because his can't duplicate the chakra paths and natures required, or his body is physically unable to handle the transition. We have one more test for today but we won't get any results until the day after tomorrow. If everyone would be so kind to escort yourselves out, I have to finish up and record our findings."

That night Kabuto had Naruto preform a couple of simple transformations, turning his hair brown and his skin pale, to see if when he turned back to his birth form after the next twenty four hours or if the transformation would stick. The next day was spent seeing if Naruto could duplicate all the results, minus the attempt at the bone spike, from the day before. Naruto had been able to do so, but she griped and grumbled about how boring the day had been. They discovered the next day that Naruto was back to his normal blond hair and tan skin.

Kabuto hypothesized that every time the gender shift happens Naruto's form is reset to that gender's basic form, and Naruto would have to be careful when using his abilities in the field, or he might be discovered while infiltrating an enemy camp.

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The rest of the month went by rather quickly, with Iruka re-teaching everything from day one of the Academy to Naruto because he was going to give Naruto the final test again at the end of their training. Iruka had a gut feeling that Naruto's time at the Academy was sabotaged and with how fast Naruto picked everything up, he was right. Guy and Lee started teaching Naruto the basics of a Taijutsu style Guy had created in his tenor as a chuunin which he called Avian Strike.

"Now Naruto, I helped create this style with a squad mate from when I was chuunin. He used it up to the day he died in the last war, and I have continued to add to and refine this style in his memory. It requires a lot of leg strength to use this style as several of the maneuvers send the enemy into the air where you deal the finishing blow. When he died he left the scrolls to me hoping I could find someone to teach his style. Every week, at the end of the week, you and I will spar. If you have made a good improvement from the previous week, I will give you the next scroll and help you learn from it."

"How will this help me with my own style?" Naruto asked, seeing as he had explained to the jounin what he wanted to do.

"Simple, my young student. Learning and creating a Taijutsu style are similar, yes, but you need a good base before you can create a masterpiece. The Avian strike is an unfinished style and it will serve as the base for the Jihatsu Shifuto. Work hard to master what we currently have and take it beyond my old friend's wildest dreams! Now, let's start with 50 laps around the field and some stretching to warm up!" Guy cried out as he posed, arm extended with a thumb up and his teeth shining. Naruto started his laps before the spandex clad jounin could devolve into his usual extreme work out rants.

Guy had kept his word though. While Lee mostly helped him set up a physical workout routine, it was Guy that helped Naruto improve his Taijutsu the most. This, along with Iruka's imposed diet, both of Naruto's forms had hit a growth spurt. While it had brought his male form up to the average height in the class, Shino and Shikamaru being the tallest of them, the real improvement was his girl form. Gone was the eight year old child-like figure, she was still naturally shorter than everyone else in the class, but she now looked like an eleven year old who was about to begin puberty. Naruto shuddered at that thought.

Neji and Tenten also assisted in the training, Tenten to a greater degree than the stoic Hyuuga. Neji had helped Iruka teach Naruto all of the Academy level chakra exercises when Iruka couldn't figure out why Naruto kept failing them and had started the Tree Climbing exercise. Naruto never hated a tree so much before now, but he hated the one he practiced on with a passion, he could only make it a quarter of the way up.

Tenten helped Naruto relearn the correct ways to use shuriken and kunai after seeing his sloppy technique. She was surprised he managed to hit as many targets as he did when he had been holding them wrong or flicked his wrist at the wrong angle or speed. She also trained him in the use of the jian long sword, a double-edged straight sword that fit with his straight attack mindset. The blade itself was actually Tenten's, but Ryu was working on his weapons that were put in as special orders.

The sword was still too unwieldy in his female form, even after 'her' growth spurt, he was making great strides in learning how to use a gunbai as his female form's main weapon. The weapon 'she' was practicing with was also Tenten's, but apparently part of the order was weapons of similar measurements for him to get use to wielding them. The gunbai was about the size of 'her' torso, but was surprisingly light for its size. It would work well with Naruto's natural wind element at range, and doubled as a shield/club if the enemy got to close.

Naruto had also spent a lot of time around the rest of the graduating class, at least the ones that had visited him and the others in the Hospital. Shikamaru was the first one to leave the hospital. When he did, he thanked Naruto profusely because the amount of Kyuubi's chakra that had been released that night had acted as the catalyst the needed to turn his clan's shadow techniques into a true Kekkei Genkai. This had earned Naruto an invite for a celebratory feast at the Nara Compound. It was the most active he had ever seen in the clan members, as they were acting like normal exuberant people instead of their normal sloth-like demeanor.

Sakura and Ino had been downright terrifying when they came across Naruto and Tenten during one of his female days, and Tenten had abandoned 'her' to their clutches. Naruto could not look at wax or paper strips the same way ever again. Hinata had also had a run in with Naruto on the next girl day after that, and found that she could talk to Naruto like an old friend, only slightly stuttering. The next day saw her back to normal around the male Naruto though, fainting when he came into skin contact by clapping her on the shoulder.

Shino and Sasuke had left the hospital just recently as well, both looking no the worse for wear. Shino's increased reserves had become apparent even to Naruto as the normally stoic Aburame was practically buzzing due to his suddenly hyperactive hive. He often ended up releasing small swarms of his beetles and would send them off to do something if they got too restless. Sasuke on the other hand, returned to doing what he did best. He trained himself into the ground trying to figure out what had changed with him. The doctors had said that it might have affected his Sharingan, so the raven-haired avenger tried his hardest to active them to see if it was true.

Choji and Kiba had also started hanging out with him more, Choji actually asked Naruto to spar with him to help improve himself while Kiba joked around a lot, but was hard headed enough not to get the message about Naruto's female form. He tended to stick his foot in his mouth every time his was around 'her'...

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A week after Naruto's training starts

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"Hey Naruto!" Kiba yelled as he noticed Naruto, in female form, waiting outside of Iruka's office in the Academy, "What's up? Why are you doing here?"

"Hey Kiba, Iruka-sensei needed to find something to help with my training," Naruto began to pout, which Kiba thought it was funny at how cute it was on her face, "He's teaching me everything from year one of the Academy again!"

Kiba smirked, but understood her irritation, "Yeah, but from what I know of your grades, you need it. Where are you at now?"

"Finishing up year two. Two more to go." Naruto groused. Kiba idly realized Naruto was wearing a girl's V-neck shirt with mesh armor underneath, and a pair of matching pants, "Why are you here?"

"Dropping off a couple of things for the Academy to use when it starts up again, the new class has three of my little cousins in it, and they have five ninken between them." Kiba said as he pulled a scroll out of his pocket. His eyes kept wandering Naruto's slight frame, constantly being drawn back to the newly developed borderline B-cup bust.

"You know what Naruto?" Kiba asked, acting like he just realized something, not noticing Iruka walking up behind him.

"What Kiba?" Naruto may have been through Anko's 'class', but she was oblivious to Kiba's roaming eyes. She was just too hungry to worry about it.

"You should stay in this form and be my girlfriend, because you're fucking hot!" Kiba said before he felt something clamp down on his shoulder. Looking over and following the arm up to his Academy teacher's face, Kiba realized that he had screwed the pooch one this one. Akamaru had abandoned him the second Iruka had grabbed him and was sitting in Naruto's lap, slowly being turned into a pile of mush as she scratched his head in the one place he couldn't quite reach, the space between his ears.

"Akamaru you traitor!" Kiba yelled as Iruka preformed a perfect spiral throw with him as the ball out of the open window at the end of the hall.

Akamaru looked up to see his partner exit the building and gave a shrug. He still didn't really understand the concepts of human relationships. Why didn't Kiba just act cute like he did if he wanted to get his ears scratched?

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Naruto still didn't know what that entire incident had been about because he had been ignoring what Kiba had said in favor for daydreaming about swimming in, and eating, a giant bowl of ramen instead. At the moment he was sitting in front of the Hokage waiting on approval of his identification photos.

"This is actually decent for you Naruto, I'm surprised." The Hokage said, impressed at the well-groomed and impressive looking shinobi in the picture, as well as chuckling at the slightly angry kunoichi in the second photo.

"Iruka-sensei was at my apartment to make sure I didn't try anything." Naruto mumbled, causing the elderly Hokage to chuckle. He could imagine that if the chuunin hadn't, Naruto would have shown up covered in face paint and looking like a clown.

"I'll beat you today Grandpa!" came a yell as the door banged open. Naruto twisted in his seat to see a young boy with an abnormally long scarf charge in with several blunted shuriken in hand, but he only made it halfway across the room before his scarf wrapped around his legs, tripping him up and it sent him tumbling to the floor.

Sarutobi watched as his grandson bounced back to his feet quickly and started yelling at Naruto, who picked him up by the front of his shirt and yelled back. When Konohamaru informed Naruto about being the Hokage's grandson, Naruto looked back and forth between the boy and himself, declared he saw no family resemblance, and brought a fist down on the boy's head.

Chuckling, the Third spoke, "Thank you for volunteering for Konohamaru's babysitter today, Naruto."

"Huh?" was Naruto's eloquent response before the boy asked, "What's in it for me?"

Sarutobi sighed, trying to think about how he could make it worth Naruto's interest without having to actually pay the boy. Ebisu was needed for a mission and he had a council meeting after this to discuss the long term effects of the spikes of Kyuubi chakra that have been happening lately.

"Every Hokage must be able to teach, to be able to pass their knowledge onto the next generation. If you can teach Konohamaru one of the Academy jutsu before I pick him up today, you'll be on step closer." Sarutobi said, lifting his chin wisely while gesturing grandly with his pipe. Naruto fell for it as if it had been baited with ramen.

"I'll do better than that! I'll teach him my special Henge!"

"Not that one!" Hiruzen barked, fearing the worst immediately.

"No, the crazy lady explained why I should never use that one again, before stabbing me with needles. My solid Henge! Iruka said it had to be a mid B to low A rank depending on how much chakra is used." Naruto crossed his arms, "He said it's like the Kage Bunshin to the Bunshin, solid or illusion."

"Very well then. If you succeed in this little endeavor of yours, then you have taken another step towards becoming the Hokage of Konohagakure." Sarutobi felt pleased that he found a way to twist the boy's dream into becoming his prize for taking care of his grandson for the afternoon. Naruto had bought right into it.

"Alright! I'll teach it to the brat, if it's the last thing he does!" Naruto exclaimed causing Konohamaru to pale. Sarutobi chuckled as he pushed the two of them out of the office, he needed to gather the rest of his reports for his next meeting.

Konohamaru, on the other hand tried to figure out what was so special about the jutsu, and Naruto had told him he could turn into anything with it.

"So, I could transform into a monkey?" the child asked, and when Naruto nodded Konohamaru let out a whoop of joy, suddenly motivated to learn it, "I'm gonna be a monkey! I'm gonna be a monkey!"

Naruto watched as the boy swung around a low branch on a tree about four feet off the ground, chanting the phrase over and over again, with a slight exasperated look.

"With the way you're acting you're halfway there!"

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Kabuto sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Being the son of one of Konoha's Head Medics had its perks, including his own private lab in the hospital where he could conduct any necessary experiments. While he had to keep it pretty humane, he didn't mind. The Hokage had set him up with the perfect job, tracking, testing, and cataloging the effects of these so called 'random' spikes of the Kyuubi's chakra.

The ROOT operatives that had been posted to following Naruto, ensuring no one tried anything had noticed that these spikes occurred when Naruto came into physical contact with several people over the month, and each of these people had been asked to go to him for a checkup.

Now one would think that the effects of the Bijuu's chakra would produce immediate noticeable results. This was anything but true. So far, only three noticeable changes had happened while everyone affected by it all gained a little something. The three obvious cases, those known by the public anyway, were the Nara heir's newly minted Yoruton Kekkei Genkai, the mutation of the Aburame heir's beetles, and Naruto's shape-shifting, which he had named Tenkan. Everyone else who had been affected only gained a slight increase in their chakra levels and a boosted healing factor

Kabuto looked over the names in the file; Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki. These nine children where the first to be affected, and they were in the newly graduated batch of Genin. But they were not the only ones affected. Guy's team, Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten had spent a large amount of time around the Naruto and absorbed quite a bit of the chakra while Konohamaru Sarutobi had begun showing symptoms early last night and Iruka Umino, the Academy teacher, had received the largest dose of the Bijuu's chakra besides its container.

The grey-haired medic sighed as he continued his attempt to decipher the seemingly random effects the chakra was having on the DNA of the blood samples he had taken during each of the physicals. He was so absorbed in his work he never noticed a shadow detach from the wall until a kunai was held to his throat.

"My my, Kabuto, it's never been this easy to catch you off guard before." A voice hissed in his ear as the kunai's blade withdrew from his neck. Kabuto, who had frozen, sighed in relief.

"Lord Orochimaru, what an expected surprise," the medic said as he knelt before the Snake Sannin.

"Of course," Orochimaru replied as he examined the normally spotless lab in its current state of disarray, "Please, tell me why you've called me here, given the trouble it takes me to slip in unnoticed, it must be something truly extraordinary."

"It is indeed, everything started over a month ago when Mizuki attempt to steal the Scroll of Forbidden Seals and defect to Otogakure when he was kill by an Umino Clan Member, one who had regressed into the Blood-lust..."

Orochimaru listened in idle amusement as his spy went on to explain the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's involvement with the incident and how the Kyuubi's chakra was, for the lack of a better term, 'infecting' certain people its container came in contact with. Flipping through Kabuto's notes on the subject, Orochimaru frowned at the notes on one Sasuke Uchiha.

"Kabuto, I want to be kept informed on this situation. Because of the Kyuubi's meddling, it may be impossible for me to use Sasuke as my next body. Keep an eye on both of them, it seems as if the Kyuubi has unknowingly meddled with my plans so I must tread carefully. Make sure everything you report is as accurate as possible without blowing your cover."

As the Snake Sannin turned to leave, Kabuto offered a low bow, "Of course Lord Orochimaru."

When he was sure he was alone again, Kabuto straightened up, pushing his glasses back into place with an evil gleam passing over his eyes, "But then again, this might just help me find who I truly am."

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Author's Note: And this is the last chapter of the rewritten part! The next chapter will finish up the first arc and Chapter eight is when the Team Assignments take place. Mini rant time!

1) Many have asked about pairings and Naruto's sexuality. My answer is not until Shippuden. I do not find myself comfortable with writing those types of scenes so I will put it off until then. Also, Naruto will only be paired with a girl, sorry to all of you readers who wanted Naruto to stay a girl or have a boy on boy relationship. First off, I will not write boy on boy, it scares me slightly, and I won't write girl on girl to make it fair. Now if it's a canon relationship, say Uranus and Neptune from Sailor Moon, I mention it and skirt the topic.

POLL TIME: For this chapter I am only going to ask one question.

I am planning on two different missions for Team 7. The first is to go to the ruins of Uzushiogakure and recover everything that's still of use. The second mission is the Kyuubi wishes to warn the other Bijuu about the future events, and the Hokage arranges a diplomatic mission to allow Naruto to meet every jinchuuriki, excepting Yagura as he needs to stay in Kiri and it's too dangerous to send Team 7 to Kiri.

My question is this, I plan on having one of these two missions happen before the Chuunin exams, as both will have an impact on the exams. Which mission do you, the readers, want to happen before the exams. The mission that loses this poll will happen in a later chapter, most likely during or after when the Sasuke retrieval arc is supposed to happen, depending on what I do with Sasuke.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 07: That which matters, Alliances and the Second Minion

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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Naruto growled in frustration as the customer she had been dealing with left. Today was one of the days she was working off her debt at Ryu's shop and she was glad it was almost time for her to leave. It wasn't as if any of the customers had been rude or derogatory towards the redhead, but to Naruto, the comments might as well have been. She hated being call 'Adorable'.

Most of the villager's had found out about Naruto's shape-shifting pretty quickly, and they all had to see it for themselves. While they were a little less hostile to her birth form, they were downright annoying about making fun of her in female form.

In the villager's defense though, Naruto had invented the Sexy Jutsu, which had affected most of the men and pissed off almost all of the women in the village at one point or another. For them, it seemed like the neo-girl had gotten her just desserts. Even Konohamaru had laughed out loud when he figured it out. The Hokage's grandson had shown up at Ichiraku's looking for her birth form to show Naruto how far he had come with the Kage Henge Jutsu in the week since he had learned it, given how by the time Naruto had finished teaching him the basics, the boy tended to look like a human monkey, or a hairy human. All he needed to do now was figure out how to get the tails and feet to work like a real monkey.

Kurama chuckled at his container's thoughts. The boy's own declaration of wanting to be a monkey had, in his mind, cemented the powers the boy would receive. The powers fit well with the meaning of his clan name, Sarutobi, which meant 'Monkey Jump', and give him a distinct legend among the members of his clan. The boy had been powerful before Kurama had sent his memories back in time, by mostly following Naruto's footsteps and learning the same techniques. Hopefully this would set him apart just enough to make his own path.

Naruto, on the other hand, had begun to think about her newly developed friendships with her classmates and the three older genin. So much had changed in the month that Naruto could hardly believe that she had spent a lot of her time alone before then.

The first one she thought about was Sasuke. He had undergone the biggest change in any of her classmates, seeing as he actually began speaking to the others in more words than before. He would also show up a couple of times a week at Naruto's normal training ground, demanding different types of spars and contests depending on what he had been working on. The avenger had been pleasantly surprised when Naruto had put up a good fight each and every time, though the current score was 7-9 in Sasuke's favor.

Shino had also surprised Naruto when he had offered her an invite to his home for dinner after a friendly sparring match. While Shino's mother had been away on a mission, his father Shibi had been very accommodating. The elder Aburame ended up being very knowledgeable about the chakra flows in a person's body and showed Naruto a few exercises that would help her reign in her massive stores of chakra and gain more control over it, as well as lessen the risk of every jutsu exploding on contact, whether it was meant to or not. When Naruto had asked Shino why his father had done that a few days later, Shino had explained the changes the Kyuubi's chakra had made to his beetles and his chakra stores, and relayed that it was Shibi's way of saying thank you for inadvertently ensuring that Shino could continue his career after Mizuki had nearly severed his spine.

As always, Shikamaru and Choji came in the picture as a duo. When Choji wanted to train, Shikamaru would act as the referee for their matches while Naruto and Choji went at it, but generally the three of them just hung out, either resting after their own individual training or getting a bite to eat. While the chubby boy seemed intimidated by Naruto's female form, he acted as the bridge that spanned the gap between Naruto and Shikamaru, as the two had very little in common with each other but Choji shared several interests with both of them.

Kiba confused Naruto to no end. Every time she saw the Inuzuka, he was either going on and on about how Naruto should stay a girl and go out with him or he would say something and proceed to attack the 'male' Naruto, initiating a sparring session then and there. Though most of the time it was the first one. At least Akamaru was always happy to see her while Kiba got carried away with himself.

Hinata was just as confusing as Kiba though. It had gotten to the point where the Hyuuga girl and Naruto could talk normally with each other as long as Naruto was a girl, but the moment 'he' said hi to her, Hinata would squeak and turn red, stuttering everything she said. They got along well enough that Naruto could call her a friend, though she wondered about Hinata's inability to talk to her birth form.

Ino and Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to take a perverse pleasure in tracking her down when she had free time on her girl days and drag her through the shopping districts when she would rather be training. They would then force her transform into them and use her as a dress up doll to see how a dress or an outfit would look on them instead of trying it on themselves. Most of the time Iruka had to step in and save her from the two girls.

But out of everyone she had been around for the past month, the only one she could say she hated Neji. Alright, so hate wasn't quite the right word for it, but Naruto couldn't find anything else to call it. She could work with him well enough, but his surly attitude and belief in a predetermined fate clashed horribly with her own upbeat attitude and beliefs. All Naruto wanted to do every time he spoke was kick his ass, or between his legs and walk away depending on the day.

Lee was the opposite of his teammate and had a habit of frightening Naruto by suddenly appearing in front of or behind with a loud shout, which had lead him to getting clobbered with her gunbai when he did it on her girl days. But he was generally a fun guy to be around and constantly strove to help others while improving himself, taking after his sensei and idol quite well.

Tenten was the last of her new friends that had shown up in the last month. With both of them being orphans, Naruto had started seeing the older genin as an older sister figure, though she didn't tell the older girl. When they weren't training with Iruka or, for Tenten, not with her sensei, Tenten was helping Naruto study or sparing with the neo-girl helping her with her weapons.

When the bell over the shop door rang, Naruto looked up to see the Hyuuga from her shape-shifting experiments at the Hospital walk in. The man was the picture perfect Hyuuga, looking like he was fit for nobility. Privately though, Naruto thought he looked rather pissed off about something. When he didn't start browsing, instead walking straight up to her, Naruto sat up, ready to help him or call Ryu in from his forge out back to help him.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" Naruto asked as the Hyuuga Clan Head looked her over. Naruto held back a shudder as she got the distinct feeling that she was being studied. Apparently satisfied with what he had found, the Hyuuga spoke in a soft, measured tone.

"I have found myself in a bit of a problem recently and I believe that you can help me with it. I would like to speak with you privately about this problem and I am willing to compensate you for your time and effort if you take my offer. When can you meet with me to discuss my proposition?" he asked, his voice low in case someone walked in.

"Umm... I get off in a few minutes, I could talk to you then," Naruto said, a little worried about what the clan head was planning.

"When you do, please come to the Hyuuga compound. We will be able to discuss the matter in private." he said as he turned to leave, "Also, if you would, please come as if you were ready for training."

With that said, the clan head turned and stepped out the door just as Ryu stomped back into the shop.

"Hey runt, what was that about?" the smith asked as he wiped his hands.

"I don't really know..." Naruto trailed off as she caught a few scrolls that the smith threw at her, "You finished them?"

"Yeah, now return Tenten's to her and get use to using these ones, they weigh a little differently and you need to learn how to use their special conductive abilities. Everything you need to learn about them is in the third scroll." the cranky smith replied as he made a shooing motion, "Now get going, I don't need you around anymore today. Come back at the end of the week with your new sensei, I need to speak with them about your work schedule."

Naruto hopped off the stool she had been sitting on and rushed out of the shop. She wanted to know what Hinata's father wanted with her, hoping it wasn't working off the damages from one of her other pranks.

XxXxXxXx

Hiashi looked over the young Uzumaki standing in his office, smirking slightly as the novelty of her two different forms being nearly exact physical replicas of her parents. Mentally shaking himself, he gestured for Naruto to take a seat across form him as his moved his papers to the side.

"I am going to be blunt with you, Uzumaki-san," Hiashi said. The use of the honorific at the end of her name caused Naruto to sit straighter. Generally when people spoke using them, they were conducting business and were being polite and professional. It seemed like the Hyuuga Clan Head really did have a job for her.

"After the incident with the traitor, I have been keeping an eye on you." Hiashi started, maintaining eye contact with the redhead, "And I am impressed with you. In one month you have retaken the entire four years of the Academy, in a condensed version of course, and moved yourself from the dead last to the ninth in a class of thirty graduates. I'm sure if you could sit still long enough for the academic portions of it, you may have been in the top three."

Naruto blushed in embarrassment. It wasn't her fault that the books were boring and difficult to read, or that she needed to move around constantly. But she bowed her head slightly, "Thanks, Iruka worked me hard though."

"I see. Then it's good we have such a teacher in the Academy. Most genin these days are lackluster and never truly make the cut. But he's not the only good teacher I have seen recently." Hiashi stood and gestured Naruto to follow him, "Imagine my surprise when I was returning home from the Council meeting a little over a week ago, and I saw a young man teaching a child, who has not even joined the Academy yet, a newly developed version of the Henge."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had seen her teaching Konohamaru, and was impressed with her for doing it? Hiashi gave her an appraising look as they came to a stop near the opening of one of the large courtyards the compound had. Naruto looked around, surprised to see so many children from the Clan in one place, between the ages of three to eleven. Hiashi clapped his hands and each of the children stopped what they were doing and lined up on either side of the walkway where Hiashi and Naruto stood.

"Good afternoon Hiashi-sama," they chorused. Naruto bit back a comment about how formal the clan was, they used more honorifics than anyone else she had met!

"Good afternoon," Hiashi replied, "Children, I am about to have a practice match with this young genin here, to see if she has the potential to be Hanabi's sensei when she graduates the Academy. I want you to watch carefully, because Uzumaki-san has the potential to be a jounin within five years' time."

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock at the man's stated intent. Sure, she was willing to spar with the guy, he was plenty strong and she could learn from it, but this was something else. He was practically saying that he wanted her to teach his daughter!

"What do you mean by that?!" Naruto exclaimed, her arms wind milling wildly, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Hiashi seemed amused by the outburst, his eyes gaining an odd glint, though his face was as neutral as ever.

"The Hyuuga Clan's Main Branch has a tradition of preselecting those who would be worthy jounin-sensei for their children. I selected Kurenai Yuuhi as Hinata's sensei while Hinata was in the first year of the Academy, mainly because Hinata does not have the will to harm another, though she will not let her team down. Yuuhi-san understands Hinata's feelings and is the perfect sensei to help her along the path of a shinobi." Hiashi said as he strolled out to the far side of the courtyard, "Hanabi, on the other hand, thrives on difficult training. She needs a teacher who will push her as hard as they push themselves. I choose you because you are one of the three members of your graduating class who have the potential to be at that level in five years' time."

"Who are the others?"

"At the moment, only Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame hold the same potential," Hiashi said as he turned to face the Genin, sliding into the Jyuuken's starting stance, "But that is a moot point if you do not pass this test of ability. After all, only the strongest are allowed to teach a Hyuuga."

Naruto knew she wouldn't win against him, he was an elite jounin and a Clan Head. He was looking for something that she possessed, something that would tell him that she was the right teacher for his daughter. While Naruto understood he was ensuring his family's future, Hiashi had also done something for her. He had all but declared that he believed that she had the strength to become Hokage, seeing as he saw her becoming a jounin in time for his daughter's graduation.

"Kage Bunshin!" Naruto yelled as ten clones sprung to life. While Iruka had drilled the Tree Walking exercise into her head, Naruto had taken it at a leisurely pace, as the chuunin said her jounin-sensei was supposed to help her further her control. While she could barely make it halfway up the tree in either form, it had refined her control enough that making ten clones instead of twenty happened more often than not.

The clones charged the Clan Head in twos, darting in and out trying to strike him on all sides. While he easily held them off without the Jyuuken, there were enough of them to keep him busy while Naruto unsealed her new gunbai. Hiashi jabbed two clones hard enough to dispel them and leapt at the genin before she could swing the weapon. Naruto cursed as she brought up the medium sized wooden fan to shield her from the Clan Head's strike, he was too fast for her to club him.

"You are doing admirably child, but you must do better." Hiashi said as he ducked under a clone's kick, using the back of his palm to redirect the kick, causing the clone to flip over wildly. Hiashi then struck with the heel of his palm hard enough to rocket the clone into the rest of the group to dispel all at once. Naruto growled as she began channeling chakra through the fan.

The gunbai was specially made for her, carved out of chakra conductive wood, it would allow Naruto some decent sized Fuuton jutsus despite its small size. Giving the war fan a backhand swing, Naruto let a dense ball of air fly across the courtyard. Hiashi spun to the side to avoid the attack, only to see three more compressed balls of air racing towards him. Time seemed to slow as Naruto held her breath, trying not to relax as her attacks closed in on the elite jounin.

"Byakugan!" Hiashi whispered, the veins around his eyes bulging, "Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!"

Three blasts of air pressure collided with Naruto's attack, causing a miniature windstorm that kicked up enough dust to blanket the training ground. Naruto panicked as she pulled her goggles up from her neck to her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded as Hiashi shot out of the dust cloud at her. Naruto tried to move backwards to get away, but she stumbled over her own feet, causing her to fall backwards as the Hyuuga leader's attack passed over her head.

Naruto reacted on instinct and let a brace of shuriken fly as she rolled to her feet, though it seemed to be a wasted effort. As soon as she had gotten to her feet, Hiashi had pinned her against the outer wall of the courtyard, two fingers pressed against her forehead and another two hovering over her heart. After several long seconds, a trickle of blood rolled down the left side of the Clan Head's face as Hiashi backed up and nodded to the neo-girl.

"Well done Uzumaki-san, you have proven that you do indeed have the ability to train my daughter. I congratulate you for actually managing to score a hit, no matter how trivial and glancing it was." Hiashi said as he wiped the cut just below his hairline, "We Hyuuga pride ourselves in being able to see everything around us, to be able to notice every detail. But there are always people like you and your mother, unpredictable in both the battlefield and in life."

Naruto slowly slid down the wall, landing on her butt now that the adrenaline had worn off and her knees could no longer support her weight. The last strikes seemed as if they was going to kill her, and Hiashi's blank face as he attacked didn't help alleviate the feeling in the least.

Staring at the man as he turned to the children to test them on what they had learned, Naruto couldn't help but think, 'That's the level of difference between a genin and a jounin? That was too intense!'

As Naruto worked her way back up to her feet, Hiashi approached with an Academy aged child close behind.

"Are you alright Uzumaki-san?" Hiashi asked, continuing when he received an affirmative nod, "While you do have a ways to go, I do stand by my words. I do believe you can reach jounin level within five years. This is who I have asked you to train, my youngest daughter, Hanabi."

Naruto looked over the younger girl. She looked similar to Hinata, though she held herself differently, closer to her father's pride. Her hair was also different, it was longer and dark brown in color. As Naruto moved to greet the girl, her stomach growled.

As Hanabi stared at her, Naruto scratched the back of her head nervously, "I kinda skipped lunch today between working at the shop and training..."

As Naruto trailed off, Hiashi nodded, "Then it would be impolite not to invite you to join us for dinner. You can get to know your new student while we eat."

"Thank you Hyuuga-sama, I would enjoy having dinner with you and your family," Naruto said as she accepted the invitation, though internally she was freaking out, 'Oh man, what am I going to do? My table manners suck!'

"Think nothing of it. Hanabi, show our guest where she can clean up for dinner." Hiashi said as he turned to walk away. Naruto shuddered trying to rid herself of the feeling of encroaching doom as she followed the younger girl through the complex to the bathing area.

'I hope that no one attacks me because I'm normally a guy.' Naruto said as Hanabi pulled her reluctantly into the private bathhouse. After all, almost everybody in the village knew about her Shape-shifting now and she didn't want to be branded a pervert, 'I wonder if anyone else is having trouble tonight?'

XxXxXxXx

Konoha, Nara Compound

XxXxXxXx

Across the village another graduate was laid out on his back, worn out and bruised from the sparing match with his father. As he had never particularly fond of anything that resulted in physical exhaustion, he was cursing his father and the man's new found need to work his lazy son to death. He also felt a slight desire to blame Naruto for his part in this pain, but ignored it for the immediate target of his ire.

"Alright, I guess that's enough for today. Good work Shikamaru," Shikaku said as he squatted down next to his son. Shikamaru didn't even both with a verbal response, preferring to give the man the finger instead.

"I suppose you earned that one," Shikaku said, chuckling at his son's irritated and battered form, "Seriously though, you did well today. I know it can't be easy to maintain control over a shadow after disconnect yours from it.'

Shikamaru grunted as he scanned the evening sky, ignoring his father as the man laid down as well, "Why are you pushing me so hard? Shouldn't we take it slow until we know exactly what I can do?"

Shikaku sighed as he watched the stars blink into existence, trying to find the words to explain his hurry, "You know about the Kyuubi, and how its power acted as a catalyst for your abilities. We don't know if the Kyuubi meant for this to happen or not, and what the limits are. We don't know if the beast's chakra still lingers, if it's still affecting you. In order to find out, we have to train you as hard as we can, or are you afraid of a little hard work?"

Shikamaru stayed quiet as he eyed the long shadows being cast by the house. Ever since he had been released from the hospital, it seemed as if the shadows had been concealing... something. Whispers and voices often emanated from the depths of the shadows, often muttering dark and twisted things. He could even swear that he was being watched, and judged, by the shadows. Even now he could swear that there were eyes on him.

Shivering, Shikamaru muttered, "It isn't the work I'm afraid of."

XxXxXxXx

Author's Note: All I can say for my absence is life catches you at the strangest times. Bought a new car and I have been picking up tons of hours to make sure I have enough cash to make the payments on both insurance and loan. But I was finally able to take a few days off in a row without screwing up my large checks that I've been loving. I'm starting chapter 8 now, TEAM ASSIGNMENTS ARE UP NEXT!

Mini-rant time!

1) I know that the fight with Hiashi is improbable, but it was a lucky shot and all Naruto needed to do was impress him. I have a plan for getting Naruto to jounin as well. Don't ask.

2) Hanabi is going to be a quite girl, only speaking when she feels the need, mainly because I don't know enough about her personality. If you have a good description about her personality let me know.

3) THE DARKNESS! No seriously that was the inspiration for the shadow manipulation and the rest of the upgrades for most off the rookies have rather dark inspirations as well. You'll find out more in future chapters.

4) Naruto staying so much in female form was brought up, but other than the first day of the Wave mission, the main parts are going to be primarily male Naruto. Don't worry, that includes team assignments and the bell test.

This is Dingo saying goodnight and Happy July 4th!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 08: Of False Smiles and Tardy Teachers

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

XxXxXxXx

Naruto yawned as she made her way through Konoha's darkened streets. She had managed to survive dinner at the Hyuuga Compound, and she had learned more about Hiashi's desires besides wanting her to tutor his youngest daughter.

Naruto had the feeling that Hiashi was glad that it had been a private dinner. He had not only spoken to Naruto about helping Hanabi once or twice week throughout her Academy years, he also spoke about how the Hyuuga needed to adapt and change, they had become predictable. While they were still deadly on the battlefield, they were easy to read and many of the younger Hyuuga had been badly injured or killed in recent years.

Hiashi had questioned Naruto extensively, hinting at his belief that the Kyuubi was acting as a catalyst for the new powers and abilities being granted to her and the others. As the two debated, Hanabi, Hinata, and Neji watched in various stages of disbelief. Hinata, who had been picking at her dinner nervously, had relaxed when her father spoke of changing the clan and the Jyuuken. Hanabi, on the other hand, froze when she realized that her father was using her as an example and a guinea pig of how the clan could be changed. The young child didn't know how to feel about it.

It was Neji who was the most surprised with his uncle's decision. He kept quite while he stared down at his dinner, but his eyes betrayed his thoughts. When he had entered the dining room to report in from a mission, his uncle had insisted he join them. While he had wondered why the feminized Uzumaki was there, he ignored everything but his food until uncle started to speak. He was absolutely delighted when his Clan Head had basically given him permission to do as he wanted, at least as far as his training was concerned.

Naruto managed to get the details for Hanabi's training/tutoring sessions after Hiashi had finished talking. With Hanabi due to start the Academy at the beginning of the next term, Hiashi wanted Naruto to come by once or twice a week for tutoring sessions on whatever Hanabi felt she needed help with. Naruto would be paid per session due to how some missions could interfere. She also needed to bring whomever her jounin-sensei was to the first session in order to ensure that they knew of the tutoring sessions.

Between her part-time job at Higurashi's, tutoring Hanabi, and her own training, Naruto knew her schedule would be full. Naruto sighed as she looked up at the night sky.

She must have been stopped, lost in thought for more than a minute, because a voice to her right caught her by surprise, "Tonight's a beautiful night, wouldn't you agree?"

Naruto turned quickly, pulling a kunai as she spun. The voice came from a boy who was only a year or two older than her, dressed in a plain black jacket and pants. Taking a step back, Naruto's eyes narrowed as the boy held up his hands, holding a book of some sort under his arm.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to surprise you," the boy said, keeping his hands visible, "My name is Sai, may I know who you are miss?"

Naruto stared at the strange boy, trying to figure him out. He had snuck up on her, so he must have had some training, but he was also staying far enough back where neither of them were in easy reach of the other. Deciding to humor him, Naruto spoke.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," she said as she shifted slightly. When the boy's smile seemed to become slightly more genuine, or less fake as she thought, Naruto wasn't sure what to think.

"I thought so," Sai said as he lowered his hands, "You have a lot of people talking about you in the village, and I wanted to see if what they said was true."

"Huh? What are they saying about me?" Naruto asked, completely caught off guard as the boy walked past her and down a different road.

"You'll find out soon enough," the boy said as he waved to her, leaving the confused redhead standing in the middle of the street. As Naruto shook her head clear of weird people asking weird things, Sai continued to walk down the road leading to his apartment. As he walked he let the false smile slide off his face as he reviewed the encounter with the one Lord Danzo had told him about.

'Naruto Uzumaki, she has good reflexes and her reserves are quite large, but she seems unsure of herself and was taken unawares rather easily. Possibly due to her abilities?' Sai pondered as he continued his walk, 'I will need to observe her and her team before I can draw a more conclusive solution for my mission. Lord Danzo did say I would be working closely with this year's class as well due to Uzumaki.'

Stopping his stroll and looking up at the moon, Sai tried to guess what emotion he should be feeling at this moment if he hadn't been trained in the ways of ROOT, "Hmmm... I truly don't know."

XxXxXxXx

A few hours Earlier, Hokage's Office

XxXxXxXx

Hiruzen sighed as he finalized the teams for the new batch of Genin. He may have twisted the traditional set-up due to Naruto's new ranking, but as it stood, the shape shifter was the best choice to work with Sasuke. Even after he had broken tradition to ensure a balanced team, he still had one problem, the assigned Jounin-sensei.

The best person to lead Naruto's team, Team Seven, was Kakashi Hatake. The man was strong, intelligent, and had the necessary experience to face what could happen on the battle field when it came to protecting the child of the Fourth and the Last Uchiha. Add that to his connection to Naruto's Parents and the implanted Sharingan, he was the perfect choice. The problem, though, was both very simple and very complicated at the same time. Kakashi did not want a team.

Many of the other jounin thought he kept failing teams until he got the one he wanted, and others thought he was just being lazy. While every jounin used a test based on teamwork, Kakashi had taken the infamous Bell Test and made it nearly impossible for fresh genin to pass. The truth of the matter was Kakashi believed that everyone he got emotionally attached to would die from being around him. His father, his sensei, his teammates, his allies, everyone. In an attempt to prevent this, he distanced himself from the few friends he still had left. By forcing this man to take a team would be a cruel reminder of what he was trying to forget, but it was needed. So by the time the expected knock on his office door came, Hiruzen had prepared himself.

"Enter," Hiruzen called as he steepled his fingers against his chin, watching the door as it opened. As the younger man entered, the Third took in his appearance. Like his namesake, Kakashi was tall and lanky, which belied his true physical strength. His dull silver air seemed to lay to the side and his one visible eye exuded apathy. He wore the standard jounin uniform, with only his mask, which covered his lower face, and his slanted headband, which concealed his implanted Sharingan, standing out as his own personal touches.

"You sent for me Lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked, his fingers twitching. Hiruzen knew the twitch was from habit, and that Kakashi wanted to bring out one of his diversions to help deal with what was likely to be a high stress situation. Seeing as he did not bring anything out, Hiruzen appreciated his self-restraint.

"Yes, it has to do with your next assignment," The Third said as he passed three files over to the jounin.

Kakashi remained impassive as he leafed through Sakura's file, unimpressed by what he saw. A slight twinge of reluctance and pity passed over his visible features when he opened Sasuke's file, and he went completely blank as he stared at both of Naruto's ID pictures. Snapping the last folder closed without even reading it, Kakashi stated, "They'll fail like the rest."

"They may surprise you." The Third stated as Kakashi looked up to meet his gaze.

"I'm not going easy on them, no matter what you order."

"And you shouldn't."

"Meaning?"

"Test them how you want, just do it fairly. Pass or fail, I want a good, and fair, report on their abilities. In the event they should pass, but you still don't want to be their sensei, include a list of recommendations to replace you." Hiruzen said as he prepped his pipe.

Kakashi didn't even think over the order for more than a few seconds, "Of course Lord Hokage, by you leave?"

Giving the young man a nod, Hiruzen watch him leave with only a single thought, 'That went better than I thought it would."

XxXxXxXx

Naruto woke with a start, minutes before his alarm was set to go off. Too excited to try and sleep those few minutes away, he reached over and switched it off before leaping out of bed. Today was the day he had long waited for, Team Assignments. Naruto opened his closet and sighed at the portion of his closet dedicated to his female side. It was, in his eyes, a necessary evil that almost made him regret taking the Kyuubi's deal. Almost.

Dressing in his new 'Mission Ready' jumpsuit, Naruto stood in front of the mirror making everything was nice and straight. The dark orange and black jumpsuit was brand new, as was the kunai holster on his left leg and the pair of weapon pouches on his belt. His goggles, refurbished, reinforce, and dyed black, were perched on his forehead and the scroll pouches on his jacket were full, the right three blank, and the left three containing his two weapon scrolls and a supply scroll. Deciding to go with the wow factor, Naruto had unsealed his sword and strapped it to his back.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto picked up his headband, which now sported a black cloth instead of the original blue, and attached it to his left sleeve where two specially made slots where to prevent the headband from sliding down his arm. Sliding the ends of the headband through the slots and tying them tight against the inside of his arm, Naruto nodded at his reflection and left the apartment.

Locking the door, Naruto turned to his balcony and surveyed the rooftops of Konoha. He loved the view, and living on top of one of the tallest buildings in the village, he always got it. With a grin, he let himself fall forward over the railing. He savored the wind rushing past him as he continued his free fall for a few seconds, loving the rush it gave him. With a quick twist, he launched off the side of the building to the roof of the adjacent store.

'One day,' Naruto thought as he started his dash across the village, 'I'll figure out how to fly.'

To fly had been one of his shorter lived dreams from when he was younger, and it was one that had resurged with a vengeance when he discovered his affinity for wind. With a grin, Naruto made the leap from the building he was currently on to the next one, letting out a whoop as he did.

As he ran along the 'Shinobi Highway', Naruto passed several people he knew. He and Kabuto briefly crossed paths as the older boy was heading off to the hospital, he had jumped over Ryu as the retired shinobi was opening his store, and passed Lee who was going the opposite way towards his team's usual training grounds.

Naruto did his best to ignore the general crowd in the streets below. While they had never been able to take out any of their misplaced anger on him without being arrested, it didn't really stop the discrimination. Despite his newly gained gossip popularity and standing in the village, a good portion of the civilian population still held the opinion that he was a demon in human skin.

As he shook himself from his current train of thought, Naruto caught a blur of grey to his right. Grinning at Kiba, who had Akamaru tucked in the front of his coat, Naruto picked up speed to push ahead of the other boy. Eyes alight at the challenge, Kiba poured on the speed as he and Naruto started racing each other.

It didn't take the two boys long to reach the Academy, as they both flipped over the wall surrounding the yard and startling many of their classmates. As Kiba took off for the doors, Naruto grinned as he raced to the side of the building. Taking a flying leap to the second story, Naruto stuck to the wall as he pried the window open. He slid inside just as Kiba came through the door.

When the Inuzuka saw Naruto closing the window, he snarled, "Damn it Naruto, that's cheating!"

"We never agreed on any rules, so it's perfectly legal!" Naruto retorted.

Just as Kiba was about to argue the point, he stiffened before leaping to the side. When Sakura and Ino got wedged in the door trying to beat the other in, Naruto grinned and went to sit down.

"Hey Sasuke, budge over." Naruto said. The Uchiha looked up at the blond, who in turn gestured to the two girls who were currently arguing with each other over who won and who got to sit next to him.

To the amazement of the others in the class, Sasuke grunted and slid over to the wall while Naruto took the middle seat.

"Why do you get to sit next to Sasuke dobe?" a purple haired girl, Ami, asked as several more girls crowded around the desk.

Naruto looked at the girl who had bullied several of the other girls in class, and gave a grin, "Because he would rather deal with me than any of you."

Sasuke's grunt of agreement seemed to only incite the girls' anger even more before they were sent scurrying away to their seats when the door banged open letting Iruka enter the room. As their teacher deposited a stack of papers and his lunch on the desk, Naruto smiled. Here he was, ready to take his first step to Hokage. It didn't matter that he failed three times, it didn't matter that he was a jinchuuriki, and it didn't matter that he was currently acting as a buffer between Sasuke and Sakura. The girl was alternating between tossing him stink eyes and Sasuke goo-goo eyes.

Iruka let out a sigh of relief as he picked up his clipboard, happy to be back in the Academy. Looking over his class, the teacher felt a sense of pride. Though he felt this way with every class, this one would hold a special place in his heart. Deciding that it was time for his final speech and team assignments, he cleared his throat.

"Alright everyone, calm down," Iruka called out, trying to cut of the conversations around the room, "I said quite down!"

As the new genin kept talking, a vein popped in Iruka's temple, "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP YOU HEATHENISTIC LITTLE SHITS!"

The class immediately went deathly silent. While Iruka had called them every name under the sun, he had never snapped like that before. Taking several calming breaths to suppress any hint of his sickness, Iruka offered the class an aggravated smile.

"Thank you. Now, I'm happy to see all of you again, and to see that some of you used your break to further your training. Remember, you are now genin of Konoha. We've maintained our reputation as being the strongest village since our founding, and now it's up to you to continue to uphold that reputation."

Naruto tuned Iruka out, having heard a personalized version of the speech the day he retook the test and was re-ranked as ninth in the class. Though he had grumbled about the placing, the fox had found it both amusing and appropriate. As Iruka proceeded to the teams, Naruto started making little guesses to stay amused. As the class was filled with exclamations of joy or dismay, Iruka continued down the list.

"Team Seven. Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha under the command of Kakashi Hatake."

Ignoring Sakura's shouts of 'True love concurs all!', Naruto turned to Sasuke. When the stoic Uchiha nodded, Naruto grinned.

'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.' The blond thought

XxXxXxXx

They had been waiting for three hours. Three long and boring hours. They had waited for so long that every other team had been picked up by the jounin sensei. Long enough for Iruka to have finished his paperwork and leave. Even long enough for Sasuke and Naruto to go outside for a spar that had lasted for close to an hour. The guy never showed up even though Naruto had left a clone in the classroom just in case their sensei showed up.

They were starting to get aggravated with waiting and each decided to spend their wait differently. Naruto had booby-trapped the door before pulling out a book titled 'A Beginner's Guide to Fuinjutsu' written by one of the Sannin. Sakura had also decided to read, but instead of furthering her shinobi career, she got lost in some trashy romance novel. Sasuke, while maintaining the appearance of brooding, was mentally going over his training regime and making changes. The match between him and Naruto had been very close, and he felt the need to modify his training so he could stay ahead of the blond.

He knew he could never match Naruto in either strength or endurance, so he decided to use his cunning and speed. It was what won him the spar, and it complemented Naruto quite nicely when they would work together. He understood that he and Naruto were Yin and Yang, both the same and different from each other. Even their elements matched up.

Before Sasuke could continue his train of thought, the door slid open as a man stuck his head inside. Sasuke watched in slight despair as the chalkboard eraser that Naruto had jammed in the door way landed squarely on the man's head, releasing a sizable chalk cloud.

As the man's lone eye wandered over each of them, he grunted, apparently finding them lacking, "My first impressions, you three are rather boring. Follow me on the roof."

XxXxXxXx

Kakashi studied the three children in front of him, trying to figure them out. They had used they time between when he was supposed to pick them up to the time he had 'arrived' for themselves.

The worst of the three was Sakura. She had not used her time productively, preferring to primp herself and read a romance novel. She was from a civilian family, her father hadn't made the cut as a genin and her family, while supportive, didn't want to encourage her. Since being a Shinobi was such a dangerous profession, Kakashi could understand why civilian parents weren't always happy to let their children go to the Academy.

The boys were a different matter. They had used some of the time productively, though if they passed his test as the Third believed he would have to talk to them about unsupervised spars. Besides the little bout of childishness that Naruto had displayed with the chalkboard eraser, he had sat down with a theory book that could be used later in his career. Sasuke on the other hand had been deep in thought, though most would believe the boy was merely brooding.

As the three genin began to fidget, Kakashi snapped out of his reverie. Eying each of them one more time, Kakashi spoke, "Well then, how about we get to know each other."

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Why don't you tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals for the future, stuff like that." Kakashi said, "I'll start us off. My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are none of your business. Dislikes…I have a lot of hobbies. My goals, I haven't really thought about it."

'All we learned was his name...' Naruto thought as he studied the lanky Jounin. As the man scratched the back of his head, Naruto didn't know what to make of him.

"Alright sunshine, how about you going first?" Kakashi asked a he turned to face the blonde.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like training, pranks and ramen, especially from the Ichiraku stand, and the old man. I dislike the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook and stupid people who can't see the truth when it's right in front of them. I guess experimenting with shifting counts as a hobby? My dream is to be an awesome shinobi and the best Hokage ever, so that people will respect me!"

'He's grown up in an odd way,' Kakashi thought as he studied the boy's new wardrobe, 'Wonder what he's got for those girl days?'

"You next pinky." Sakura glared at the man before introducing herself.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes include… My hobbies are…My dream is…" She squealed in delight as Kakashi blanched at the blatant looks she was tossing at the last Uchiha. Naruto was gagging and holding his throat. Sakura glared at him. "My dislikes are Naruto and Ino-Pig!"

"That hurts Sakura, it really does." Naruto said, clutching his chest. Sakura looked ready to pound him.

_'__That's great. A fan-girl.'_ Kakashi thought sarcastically. "Alright, let's finish this up. You, the resident brooder."

As Naruto snorted, Sasuke spoke, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have few likes and I have many dislikes. My dream, no, my ambition is to revive my clan and to kill a certain man."

_"__That's so cool!" _Sakura gushed.

_'__He seriously needs a hobby.'_ Naruto thought, scratching his cheek.

_'Just like__I thought.'_ Kakashi thought with a sigh, "Well, you are an interesting group. I only hope that you pass my exam tomorrow."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura.

"Well, the truth is that you aren't genin yet." Kakashi said, causing the three to sit up straight in surprise.

"What do you mean we aren't genin? We passed the genin exam!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Actually, the test you took is to just to see if you have what it takes to be genin. The real test is given by the jounin, your new teachers. Trust me, this test will be much harder than what the Academy gives you. Just come with your equipment at training ground eleven at five o'clock in the morning." Kakashi said, and just before he vanished, he added an afterthought, "Oh yeah, I suggest you don't eat unless you want to throw up."

After a few moments, Sasuke stood and left the roof, only sparing a single glance back to nod at Naruto. Sakura moved to follow him, and Naruto could hear her bugging him as they entered the building. Naruto just sighed before standing up and walking over to the rail. With a grin, Naruto threw himself off the side of the building for the second time that day and took off across the village towards Ryu's shop.

XxXxXxXx

Sunlight glinted off of Shino's glasses as he slowly walked away from the clearing his team introductions had taken place. His team was obviously put together as a tracking team, possibly even an investigations team. Unfortunately, there were problems with the set up.

Kiba was too headstrong and rash, itching to prove his status as the top dog on the team. This would inevitably bring the two of them head to head since Shino was the only other male on the team. With Kiba's new aggressive streak and Akamaru's growth spurt, Shino wouldn't think twice if it turned out to be the Kyuubi's influence.

Hinata was too shy, her confidence coming and going at odd times. He concluded that it had something to do with the orange and blonde blur that had just shot over him with a rushed greeting, and that Hinata would do well spending more time around Naruto.

While he had no real opinion of his new sensei, a Kurenai Yuuhi, he knew that she and Hinata had been acquaintances for a while. She had told them to use tonight to prepare for their test, and the only hint they had was they would have to find something.

A slight disturbance in an alley to his left broke his chain of thought. As Shino turned to find the source of the disturbance, he saw several gleaming eyes in the shadows. As the rats began scattering, Shino raised his arm, releasing a large cloud of beetles.

He watched as his swarm descended on the squealing rodents, letting them feast until they were full. His hive had changed since the night of the Mizuki incident. They were highly aggressive, more numerous, and very ravenous. While chakra could sate their appetites for a few days, every once in a while they needed a fresh meal.

As he recalled his swarm, the only sign of the rodent problem were the scattered bones.

XxXxXxXx

Author's Notes: Ever had that chapter that just didn't want to be typed? That was this chapter. No rants this time.


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